Might Be More Than you can See
by Salimity
Summary: Post-Breaking Dawn. What happens, a couple decades later, when the Cullens decide to throw up the facade and visit a high school like they did in Forks? Keep in mind, Bella has trouble follow her wherever she wanders. . .
1. Prologue

..: Let me introduce you to my second little fan fiction with no relation to my other one. This is a very short (most of the text is me) Prologue of something I seriously came up with while watching Drake and Josh while drinking iced tea. There's no relation there either, I hope, and I have no idea why it struck me then and there. But...I loved it. I'm doubly not sure on why that is because this is post-Breaking Dawn, and if you haven't read my other story (_shame on you_), then you should know I hated Breaking Dawn. Surprisingly, most people did. 0.o Now, it doesn't actually involved Edward and Bella much, so I'm cheating. Totally cheating and probably going against all rules on here. Don't know if that will get me in trouble or not, but it INVOLVES Edward and Bella and troop all the way to the end, just with the main character being someone of my own design. It's still Twilight, just...weirder. :..

..: Just to say this though, my main character has nothing in common with Bella. Wait...no...her parents are divorced but that's it. Nothing weak, or helpless I hope, is coming across in my writing. No Mary-sue or someone who can't stick up for themselves. I think she's rather strong, dealing with all the assholes in her highschool who think her worth is less than dirt. And, if you really think into that expression, you find that dirt is pretty valuable too. Don't believe me? Where would you be without dirt and ground beneath you, hm? Anyway. As Twilight seems to be based upon romance novels and the like and some music, this flips it. I like music more than old novels, so there's a lot of songs intertwined into this. Just by listening to the radio station that broadcasts out here in no where I got all these ideas. Check out 104.3 in Baltimore or 104.5 in Philly if you can. I think they both have web sites if you feel like searching for them, just in case you feel like getting a gist of what mood this might take. :..

..: One more thing actually. Nothing important, just the usual. You read it all the time...REVIEW YOU BASTARDS! I really think I have to constantly plead and beg people to review. That way I actually get something. OR do something SO drastic and outrageous they feel compelled to click a simple button and type out a few words of encouragement. Pity. I don't really do outrageous. Guess I'm stuck with begging. :..

..: This will get updated after the weekend. Not a terribly long wait really. :..

**Prologue  
**My world was crumbling around me at last.

Could I seriously get this _lucky_? All my walls of reality, taken down for my eyes to see what really lay out there. Some truth and hope in my personal world filled with nightmares, and some people who had learned of this had complained?

No. Not me.

I happened to like the fantasy and dream-like quality this world has, despite the terror lurking just beyond the wonder and amazement. Nothing that could happen to me now could compare to what had previously happened in my life.

It wasn't like I could take back what I'd said to bring this upon me. It was far too late for that.

I would brave it like I always braved everything in life, this time with others there to maybe support me. That would help, since I'd been alone in nearly everything from birth to highschool graduation and beyond. I was brave and, perhaps, as usual, the brave are stupid.

In that case, stupidity sure is bliss. . .


	2. Wallflower Reject

1**Angelius Cullen**** - **I'll get around to reading those when I can, promise. But I'm not sure what kind of tips I can give for you. I don't think I'm the best thing since the invention of the fish bowl or anything. 0.o

**Edwardsgirl3 ****- **Well. . .um. . .I guess you'll find out during this chapter. Thank you so much for putting me on your alert list. My updates are random, so that really is the best thing for you. . .

**jn. V13**** - **Interesting. That's a good word. And. . .because I didn't think anyone would want to read the prologue. D I like it when I'm wrong.

--

**More Than you can See  
****Chapter One - Wallflower Reject**

"Hey Ghost!" the voice hissed just behind me, rough hands pushing me from that direction, causing me to drop my tray. It clattered to the floor, drawing all attention to me, the contents spilling all over in a mess. I could already hear the snickers of those around me. I was thank myself though, again and again, for booking it down here so early. If not, there would have been more witnesses to my disgrace.

It was just another typical day here, at Solanco Highschool, but because it was happening today of all days, it made it slightly worse. Today was the first day of school, sometime in early September, just after Labor Day, and I was making a huge first impression on my fellow peers.

Well, upon those who were new here at least, but they were most likely wandering the labyrinth maze of halls, lost, or getting tugged about for a tour of the school by some over friendly honor student with a leash on the poor kid's wrist.

There was no use bothering to dwell upon making an impression on the people around me, who were now laughing. I'd already known them for so long, it really didn't matter that they thought I was clumsy now, on top of it all. They already thought of me as a freak, none of them bothering to help me. I was a social outcast. The wallflower that people noticed, if you will.

I dropped to one knee, picking up the pizza I had just bought, and the now dented milk carton that wasn't, thankfully, open when it fell. That looked to be the only edible thing anyway. The pizza before hand had been bad, but now half was stuck to the floor, where I chose to leave it. "What the hell, Craig," I muttered, throwing a dirty look over my shoulder.

Craig was already walking off, laughing and patting the back of his cronies. I hated Craig.

I really hated him because at one time I had liked him. Really and honestly like him. So what if it was a high school fling? More often than not, those stupid and insignificant flings impact your life the greatest of all.

I ground my teeth together, then I chose to flee to my usual hiding spot in the large room as the Janitor pushed his mop and bucket from the lunchroom broom closet. I would have helped the janitor clean it, if only he wasn't so creepy. Always staring at the girls who wore revealing clothing, and even me who practically buttoned up for summer. Nothing is more creepy than an old man with sick fantasies. I didn't see anything worth looking at really.

Like today, I had chosen to wear a long sleeved inconspicuous black shirt, with no print or flashy pictures. There were five buttons down the front, three of which were unbuttoned to reveal the milky white skin underneath. Dark jeans, baggy to conceal my actually nice framed figure, covered any hope of seeing my skin. The only showing places were my face and partially my hands; the areas of them where ink was not covering.

And even if the sun shone here in southern Lancaster county, for just one day, I would still choose to avoid the outdoors. Well, I'm sure it did shine, but I never noticed.

The only safe place for my sanity and well being was to be locked in my room, with the shades drawn.

But that alone couldn't keep _him_ out. I didn't bother looking about me as I threw myself into a chair at an empty round table with five chairs circling it. I chose the corner because nobody looked in the corners of rooms. It also let me hide out in the shadows where I didn't have to meet the stares and glances. In my case, further was always better.

Him. The guy nobody but myself could see. The guy who tormented my every waking moment, always following close behind me, and then dared to invade my sleeping moments too. The guy who wasn't a ghost, like all the others, but a freaking solid walking mass.

Okay, so he wasn't _that_ bad. His name was Alexander, from what I could tell, but he was very stalkerish. Dude followed me everywhere, only sometimes drifting away to places, only to return a day later with no explanation for me at all. Real strong silent type.

I remembered the first time he touched me. It was one reason I wore long sleeved shirts all the time now.

I had been reading a book in the library of my school, trying my best to ignore him because he was staring at me so intently. I had been getting good at ignoring him throughout my life, being since I had first seen him when I was seven, in second grade, and it was now ninth grade for me.

I even remember the book I had been reading when it happened. Wintersmith. How appropriate.

Gently, nothing more than a caress, he ran his fingers down my arm, trailing a vein that was visible through my nearly translucent skin. Then, without a word, I had looked up to him just in time to see him shake his head, close his eyes, and pull away from me. I had watched him leave the library, opening the door in such a flurry that when it moved it blew a few papers off the desk. Nobody but me could explain how the door randomly opened on its own, but you wouldn't see me talking.

He didn't come back for three days. The most tense three days of my life, in my opinion. I didn't go insane with grief, or loss for that matter. I think I was just terribly lonely. Alex is the only person who happens to care for my well being, I'll have you know.

But when he came back, his eyes shone the lightest shade of amber. Strange because before that day they had always been a dark or ruby crimson, shifting colors from day to day.

What I remember the most is the icy cold feeling of his stone flesh as it had grazed my skin. I'm not sure if you can imagine an ice sculpture coming to life, or even the Wintersmith popping out of his little book, either gracing you with their touch, but that is damn near accurate to how this felt to me. Ice droplets, running down my arm. Only. . .not as wet.

I grumbled something illegible to anyone around me about Craig, throwing the plate with the pizza into the corner of my tray, and picked up my dented milk carton. As I shook it, making sure the chocolate in the milk was actually diffused throughly, I saw them.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that everyone in the whole school saw them at the exact second I did.

Okay, so these were the guys I really wanted to make a good impression on, but they looked like they couldn't have cared any less about their surroundings or the people who were part of them. They were so. . .perfect? Was that even a good enough word for them? They were so. . .much. . .like Alexander.

Thinking of which, I wondered for a brief second where he might be, and then I felt pressure on the back of my chair. He had pulled up right behind me, and I could feel his head turn against the back of the seat to look at them as they crossed the lunchroom and entered the line for food. Graceful, the four that were in the same grade together, like dancers or. . .there were no words in my small vocabulary to explain them or compare them to anything I might know.

Save one.

For some reason, my own little devil hissed in their direction. Immediately, the one couple stiffened and looked directly to me. I blanched, then whirled to glare down at him.

"What the hell are you doing?" I cried. My voice was no louder than a sigh so he was pretending he didn't hear me because he _snarled_ this time.

Alexander has dark honey hair. It's shaggy and hangs around his face. He looks wonderful in scarfs because his style of hair made his neck look longer than it really is. And if you've ever seen someone with a long and slender neck wear anything around that neck, you get my point.

He's European, but you can barely tell if you only hear a few words from him. Lucky me, I've heard more than a couple words come out of his mouth. His eyes were a deep ruby red, but lately they have been fading back and forth between some tawny color to crimson. I never bothered to ask why because I got the feeling I really didn't want to know and he wouldn't have answered anyway.

Yeah, maybe he was imaginary and I was the only person to see him, but I talked to him constantly. Even in public. Sometimes, I liked to freak people out in public by talking to him while he was walking alongside a wall. If it didn't pain me to see their horrified expressions, it sure was hilarious, in the least.

Sometimes he replied. Sometimes he didn't. This was one of those times he made his opinions clear to me. "Shut up."

His normally light tone was darkened by his murderous expression. It was trained on the bronzed haired one as far as I could tell. I looked up to see that the three were moving along, the girl with the brown hair tugging on the arm of Bronzey.

Bronzey's face was curious, not hate filled like Alexander's though. He wasn't scared either. But I think I wanted to duck down and hide at that very moment. Surprise, surprise, his gaze was trained directly on myself.

I blinked, throughly confused, and whirled in my chair. Back to my milk. The sight of it now made me sick to my stomach.

Edward and Alice Cullen. Jasper Hale. Bella Masen. A bunch more where they are concerned. A freaking large family in total.

They were all adopted by the new doctor here in hickville, Doctor Carlisle Cullen. I knew this because my mother is a nurse at the hospital in Jennersville, where he works.

The first two, Bronzey and Pixie, were related to the doctor somehow, as I had heard through the grapevine.

Even though they were family, adopted or whatever, you could seriously pick out the couples. Painfully so, if you knew what to look for.

I stole a glance behind me. I had been sitting here long enough, tossing my milk from hand to hand in nervousness, that they had to be through the line and sitting at a table by now. By now too, the cafeteria was filled to the brim, as it was every year in our grade. There weren't any more single tables for the four new kids to grab, and few had single tables at all. No where for them to sit together, although I did see a few people trying to shun their friends away to other tables so they would have enough room, just in case.

Gosh. People are so shallow.

I sighed, leaning on my elbow. I should name the four before I go on. Edward translates in Bronzey. He was, sculpted. Actually, he was quite beautiful. Wonderful. Angelic. Seraphic was a word I could finally use after years of waiting for a perfect scenario to use it.

Then there was the other; Jasper Hale. He had honey hay colored hair and, in truth, some part of him scared the beejesus out of me. Even though he terrified me, I couldn't help but feel. . .calm. Safer, than if, say, my own little monster was guarding from the world or saving my life.

Alice was the smallest one, with her black spiky hair and petite features. I took note that she was wearing the more flashy clothing, designer clothes. She was the most graceful of them all, and I wondered if she took dancing lessons in her spare time. I then wondered how many guys would suddenly be interested in dancing if that were the case.

Many, I'm sure. And then Jasper would have to kill them all.

A wry smile took over my face as I looked over the very last of the family. Bella Masen. Not Isabella, but Bella. Remember, Bella. I had math with her, one of my earlier classes, so I had already seen her before now. The shock of her had kind of worn off. I really envied how beautiful this girl was. There was no way I could hold one ounce of self esteem, all the self esteem that I had, with her in the room. I was aware that they had an older sister; she was a senior to be exact, but I hadn't seen her so I didn't have comparison like some may have had. Her beauty was unbearable, but Isabella. . .

She had a shapely little heart shaped face, with longer brown hair that fell down to her shoulders and curled at the very end. I couldn't help but wonder what the other girls, those that cared way too much about their appearance and thought they were the next Miss Universe, thought about seeing her.

You couldn't just wish this kind of beauty through plastic surgery. There just wasn't any way to imitate these kinds of features.

But. . .they weren't the first I've seen.

Right off the bat I could tell they were one in the same. Mine had all the same obvious details that they had. With their alabaster skin, and dark bruises like they'd never slept for a second in three days. The painful attractiveness they all held. The graceful qualities they shared in their fluid movements. I'm sure these in this group were just as sharp and direct and strong and fast.

For some reason, I shuddered. That scared me. Not the fact that there could be more of them, but that there were enough of them to outnumber _him_. My guardian.

While I had thought their faces over in my mind, I had subconsciously turned back to my tray, turning the milk carton over in my hand. So I had no idea where they were until they were. . .right. . .behind. . .me. . .

I squeaked, then lowered into my chair, cursing my mind for being distracted for even a second. It was easily perceptible that the cafeteria was filled and, being that I was the only table with more than two empty chairs, I was the last option. It shouldn't come to a surprise to me, but dang it, it did. Then it clicked that I thought they would have just avoided me like everyone else in this building does. Nobody likes to be near me, the Freak.

I mean, the other freaks, the punks and goths and nerds and weirdies, they all banded together because they were of like opinions and views. Okay, they weren't really _freaks_ in my mind, they were just people. But me? Ghost Girl? 'Freak' personified? I was the one and only.

I really couldn't band by myself, now could I?

But these creatures, and that's what they were because they weren't human (I didn't have a name for them), were right behind me, mulling about to some question I still hadn't registered. Why would anybody be drawn to the stupid wallflower reject of a girl with a freaking imaginary friend guardian with no other visible friends who creeped people out constantly. Daily.

I think my heart stopped beating right then and there. It started with a jolt when Alexander growled from behind me, but stopped again when Edward pulled out a chair. He feigned nervousness, looking up to me, holding his tray with one hand only.

They were all so wrong, I thought as my heart thumped again, protesting the amount of adrenaline my kidney whatever had shot into my blood stream. . .was it your kidney that did this or some other organ by the stomach?

Okay, so I hadn't known that these things came in something other than invisible. I had hoped that maybe I wasn't the only one, as those who are alone think constantly, and someone else had something like Alexander watching over them. It hadn't occurred to me that Alexander may not be the only kind of his kind.

I shook my head, not registering for a second time what Edward was asking of me. I didn't notice that he had spoken directly to me. Not to the chair next to me. Not mumbling his words like he didn't want me to hear them. No, he said them right to my face. He even used my real name.

I hadn't told them my real name. . .freaky.

"I said," he began again, tone polite, shifting his weight like it pained him to stand with one arm holding up a tray like a waiter does in all those restaurants. If he was human, it would. But I've seen Alexander bench a ton before, just because he could.

His face light up as I thought back to the time I had goaded Alex into doing that, but he drew it back into his cordial nervous mask. Wow.

"Would it be okay if we sat here? Others offered up chairs, but their tables were already too crowded." As if to emphasize a point I already could understand, he looked about the room.

If took some effort to roll my eyes away from him, but not much. Maybe, again, if these weren't the first. . .blah blah blah. Lucky I wasn't like everyone else and I've been given the treat of seeing one around me all the time.

I'm special.

Goody.

"Fine," I muttered, grabbing the milk that had fallen from my grip to shake it some more. As I went to pick it up, I saw that my fingers were trembling. I studied my flaw instead of them as they moved around the table, taking their seats as they went. After a second I saw that Edward had pulled out Bella's chair, another painfully apparent fact that they were together on some level higher than _family_, and had pulled up a chair from another table for himself.

That left us with six chairs, around one table, one empty right beside me.

I didn't really take it personally, I just saw it as creepy.

So he knew Alexander was there, boring his fiery eyes into his skull, or wishing he could.

I scooted a little to my left, toward the empty chair, as Edward pulled his up next to Bella.

And then . . . we just kinda sat there. Totally anti-climatic.

Of course I had forgotten that little fact too, just for a second. I'm not used to being shocked like this in my life. Things kind of hit me, but I'm expecting them. Alexander didn't eat food. Asked him once why not. He made a face and didn't say anything.

As if to prove a point I had not heard spoken aloud, Edward locked eyes with mine, offered the slightest twitch of a smile, and took a bite of his pizza.

I think I must have fainted or something because I couldn't see for a few moments, and then I could and Alexander was propping me up. A slew of curse words were in my ear, not quite loud enough for anyone but super humans to hear.

I scooted my chair _way_ over to the empty one, and looked down at my spoiled food.

The mood of the table shifted from that of angst to one of calm. I didn't mind, as the cloud enveloped me, that I was a magnet for the paranormal and unexplained. Oh, it mattered to me that they were still here. I was just. . .okay with it.

Feeling better, for whatever unexplained reason (my bets were on Jasper - the whole calming presence hadn't escaped my notice), I felt Alexander drop his hand from my arm, convinced I could now support myself without falling and slump against the back of my chair again. Resuming his position. I grabbed my milk, which my stomach no longer churned at the thought of drinking, and convinced it no longer needed a good shake, I opened it to take a sip. With my luck, the milk would have gone sour at my touch, but it was cold and very refreshing.

As if to allow for privacy, those at my table chose to look at everything but myself.

When I was done with my milk, I stood (in the words of one of my favorite pirates from those old movies - Gentlmen, I excuse myself of this weirdness) to throw it out. When I came back I was faintly aware that a couple more than five pairs of eyes were trained solely on me. These eyes came from around the room, and I felt my skin crawl as they raked my image.

The weirder the day became, the more I was wondering what else could happen, for as I took a seat, I had three plates of pizza offered to me at once. Like it was planned or choreographed. I stared at the offers for half a minute, then looked to the offerers. "You didn't eat your's because it fell on the floor, correct?" (For the record, who says correct? That's right; old people) Edward explained. He was looking u to the ceiling and I assumed he wasn't offering up his own plate like a sacrifice because he had bitten the end of it off.

Taking a bite of something and then offering it for someone else is a little too intimate for first impressions. I had the urge to punch him as I thought this because he again reacted to my _thought_ of pizza by cracking a huge smile, like someone remembering a funny thing or memory.

Murmuring appreciation, I grabbed the plate nearest to me; Alice's.

Granted, the pizza here isn't grand. It's greasy, and is a rather pathetic excuse for food when it costs 2.50 for the whole lunch. It was food, however, and I was hungry. I couldn't go without lunch like half the bony girl around the room did. I ate when I was hungry, which wasn't too often, and stayed away from food when I wasn't. I hadn't brought more money with me other than the two fifty to buy lunch with. Dropping my meal wasn't on my planned to do list.

When I was done, Lunch time was coming to a close and people were bringing their trays up to the drop off center like I had done. I thought it stupid that they told us to bring our trays up fifteen minutes before the period actually ended, but I didn't mind technically. I only focused on eating instead of other people around me who might want some conversation.

I mean, I could talk to Alexander on any other given day, but he isn't much of a talker, like I've previously mentioned.

Also, it's weird when you find someone, all alone at a table, eating and chatting to the empty chair beside her. I know I wouldn't want to watch such an eerie spectacle, but I could try seeing for myself by setting mirrors up in the other three available chairs. Or I could tape it.

The teachers started ordering us out of the cafeteria a minute or so before the early dismissal bell rings. So, if you're smart, you can get to class five minutes early, or just right on time if you want. I normally chose to get there five minutes early and seek refuge in the normally empty rooms instead of lingering in the halls, begging for trouble to find me.

It is high school. People make fun of the abnormal; the things they can't quite explain.

I was the more appropriate target for the immature.

Just on time, as I was exciting the cafeteria in haste to get away from my new found creature 'friends', hyper aware that they were keeping pace with me easily, the usual gang found me. "Hey! Ghosty! Have a nice summer, did you?"

They were the typical gangsta groups you find in really cliche and clique high schools across America. They think it's really cool to curse every other word, not to emphasize anger like I did. It's not a particularly good habit to invest in, you just have to use it sparingly. I guess these dweebs never watched old episodes of South Park.

There were three or four guys usually, and they all wore their pants down passed their asses. You only got to see this when they bent over and their shirts fell up their backs, or when they chose to moon select teachers.

Chris, Rat, and Chub-chub. I didn't bother learning Chub-chub's name really. He was just really big, and it was my own stupid personal way of getting back at him for being so stupid. I also like Chub cheese, and the fact that Zak was nicknamed Rat and Chub-chub reminded of cheese was just too priceless for me.

I think I heard laughter ring out behind me, but was cut off with a slap.

The girl of this group sneered behind me to whomever thought it was a good time to laugh at thoughts, and I took in a good look at what she was wearing. It was a tee shirt, but only one shoulder was where it was supposed to be. The other was halfway down her arm, revealing a certain curve of her body I'd rather not see, and her bra strap. I noted that it was black. She also wore short shorts that clung and brought out her full figured body. She was actually quite pretty, with black frizzy hair, darker skin tones, tastefully done makeup, and bright vibrant eyes. She had a button nose and smooth, fuller features that reminded me of a baby's face. She wasn't fat really, just big boned to put it straight.

But sheesh. There was a dress code in this school, wasn't there?

The other guys chortled, like calling me ghost girl and getting a response, the _wrong_ time for that response might I add, was funny. Chris was the one who was the second biggest of the pack. But in his case, he was just fat. . .not Chub-chub fat, just fat. He had short brown hair, cropped longer than Chub-chub's or Rat's, and dark skin with a farmer's tan.

That's the kind of tan that only people here have, that cuts off right where their tee shirt sleeves were at the time. You can have bikini tan lines, no tan lines, or farmer tan lines.

Anyway, so Chris here was wearing some skater graphic tee he probably thought was really cool, and the usual baggy pants that clearly showed his crotch was somewhere around his knees.

I heard the laugh, and I wanted to smack it for myself but again someone beat me to it. I wondered who could be smacking someone like that around, and then I sighed, forgetting it. There was talking behind me, probably a lot of explainin' going on back there, but I suddenly didn't care.

More pressing matters at hand.

For what I knew, passing by conversations in the class rooms like a well practiced wallflower does, I had picked up that Chris is a BMXer. Extreme biking and dirt biking, I think. He doesn't have much balance for skate boarding, and yet he was wearing flat bottomed skater shoes. These weren't pressing matters though.

Rat had serious burns all over his body, from an accident that had happened when he was little. If it really was an accident, I could feel sorry for him. I was more inclined, with every passing remark and moment spent with the kid, to believe his mother had tried to free the world of his existence, but had given some double thoughts to homicide and realized it wasn't worth going to jail over. In that case, I pitied his mother more.

However, since Rat had patches of his hair missing, never to grow back because of the damage done to his skin, he was allowed to wear a hat. Which he corkscrewed with tender loving care to the side, so the rim wasn't over his face but next to it. He hid under the brim of it when it was placed normally over his face, which on both accounts is very rat like, even for rats.

He has a pointed nose, beady little black eyes, and a smile that could conceal hidden fangs. He's strong. His arms seem to ripple with muscle that has been perfected through hours of toil and build up. I guess, under all the Phantom of the Opera horror, he was attractive because some girls found him so, but his insides are rather putrid I'm sure.

I'm just glad I'm not graced with seeing the soul of people like Jack Black in that old movie 'Shallow Hal'.

Rat also is an idiot. They all are, but he's more of one. He's a defiant and total ass on top of being stupid, so there really isn't much hope for him in the real world. Completely, without a doubt, he is the one person who makes my life here a living hell. Craig at least has the face and the brains enough to know when to stop the torment. Rat thinks it's fun to push me to the limits of no return.

For a moment, I wondered where the fourth boy cronnie was. His name is Tillman, and he's tall, lanky, and always wears a vacant expression on his face, like he doesn't know what was really going on. He has short cropped blonde hair and an extremely long neck.

And not attractive long like Alexander's, just pencil neck long. The other two were not attractive in any way at all either.

Unless you find Chub-chub attractive. He's just a big balloon bent on eating and destruction. He's not too bright either in the discussion of brains.

"Yeah, find any ghosts to talk to during the break? I suppose you didn't have nay real people to talk to," Brandi sneered.

I had classes with this group last year. Gym to be exact. Brandi pushed me a lot, but always seemed to fall down or have a random ball directed to her face during its midcourse when ever that happened.

I rather liked Alexander when he pulled stunts like that.

I prayed I didn't have any with them in the afternoon classes, since all my morning classes checked out gangster free. If I did, I think I would cry on the way home.

I sighed, slumping my shoulders forward. Beside me, Alexander had twisted his flawless face into a soundless snarl. His fists were shaking, and his murder gaze was directed toward the four who were human instead of not human. People filed around me, like I was a plug stoppage in a drain that wasn't working right and they were the water slipping out passed the cracks I made.

Water doesn't care what happens to the poor drainage plug when it fails.

"Yeah. I didn't talk to anyone all summer long. Glad I'm back in school with such joyous people such as yourselves."

"What do you mean?" Rat snapped to attention. Before now, he had been leaning against the wall, looking all cool and calm. "Nobody talks to you in school either. You talk to them, but they don't care. Why haven't you done the world the biggest favor yet, the only one you can give it, and taken yourself out of our lives? Then you could talk to all those stupid imaginary friends of your's for as long as you like."

I bit my lip. I had tried that already.

Twice.

Alexander had stopped me both times, wordless but just being there. Proof to me that he cared. Maybe. . .too much. I could imagine these people disappearing one day, just out of thin air. I'm not sure if I would secretly like that, or if I would be sent into a fearful frenzy at the thought of knowing the killer.

"Because," I snapped back, facing him once I was over my whole inner turmoil episode. They didn't have to know how much that hurt. "I value my life." I crossed my arms and took a step back, now looking over Brandi. "Unlike some people I might know." I was making a show of studying her, shaking my head when I was done like I was dissatisfied.

I turned to Chub-chub, forming some low blow fat person remark but I never got to.

The sea of calm washed over me, and I dropped my arms to my sides. Alex unclenched his fists and stood erect, face a serene mask. This time, the cloud was smothering, threatening violence if the people didn't calm down. I complied, as did the gangster group. Brandi had been about to sneer, two seconds too late because she had just gotten what I had been doing. It wasn't important what she would say because I was already hearing her words in my mind. Something most likely along the lines of 'What was that, you bitch?' or something unoriginal like that.

Not like my whole little spiel was original, but what else could I have done?

I saw, right in front of me, the four disband their hostility and turn their gaze upwards, passed and above my head. I'm pretty tall and lanky for being a girl. I like to play volleyball and run, so I'm in the sports year round.

People don't talk to me on the team, whether I'm good or not, but if the coaches ignore me they find themselves in the office so fast they can't even blow their whistle to say time out. It's wrong to not play a person, who personally carries the team on her back at times, just because you think she's weird.

Because of my height, most people aren't taller than me. Out of the four behind me who had unexpectedly stayed to watch me get mauled, the only person who was a head higher than me was Jasper.

I looked up to be sure. Sure was him, and I felt the same scared chill run down my spine as I took a hesitant step closer to Alex.

Without a word, although Bronzey was smiling, the other non-humans filed passed him. Bella's eyes were on my face though. Then Bronzey's face turned from mine to Alex, disapproving of any violent acts that might have been going through his head at that moment.

Because I'm ninety-four percent sure that Edward (as I'll now call him instead of Bronzey...it was fun while it lasted) can read minds. It doesn't take someone with half a mind to piece the facts together when they stared you glaringly in the face like that.

Alice was watching Jasper, I saw, proving also that there was a couple system to this 'family' of theirs.

Perhaps Alex is only invisible to other human eyes, and I really am special. But I am special. I see things that others fail to see; the blatantly obvious of course, but Alice and Jasper disproved that theory when Alex had to side step Jasper when he went to follow his family.

I watched them walk away in their smooth and graceful way, Bella the last to turn away from us, and then I looked to the gangster group. They were staring after them too, a look of awe on their faces. Brandi actually just had a look of serious envy like any rational girl should have, and Rat looked worn and pathetic now that he was calm.

Without another side word to the four of them, I chased after the four non-humans, just in case whatever spell Jasper had cast wore off before I could gather my wits about me. As I walked hurriedly, my black messenger bag bounced off my leg. I had acquired just one book so far, and it was my Adv. Geometry and Stats book. My math book, to put it bluntly.

Goody.

We were walking down the ninth grade hall, or they were walking just a few steps ahead of me, but turned and walked down the tenth grade section of the school. Most of my classes were down here, but a few were downstairs.

The Library, my favorite part of the school, was downstairs, right by the bottom the main stairs and to the right. I liked getting the Terry Pratchett books there, and hadn't really looked into reading anything else at moment. All summer I had denied buying his books at Book Stores I visited for manga and other new releases just so I could enjoy his books during the school year. They were fun books to read after tests, and I didn't care if I laughed out loud at jokes no one else understood.

You just had to read them to get it.

I followed the group until we reached the last corner of the hall, and then I ducked into my science class, the first door on the left. I looked about the room, nodded to the smiling teacher, and then settled into a desk that wasn't in an overly populated section of the room.

Alexander lounged on my desk, glaring out at the door. "I didn't get to thank them," I whispered, barely moving my lips.

He shifted his weight slightly so he could look down to me with soft eyes. "Sure they got the message."

"Right. Edward," I sighed. How annoying it must be, to hear what isn't being said.

Alexander looked back to the door as I placed my messenger bag on the ground beside me. He was wearing normal jeans and a collared tee shirt. Alex also looks to be in his early thirties. That's kind of creepy, but he just seems to follow me because I'm there. Or maybe it's because I can see him. He never bothered telling me.

Okay yeah. I'm dancing around the fact that he's my stalker, but I, on the contrary, find that to be cute. Especially since I owed the guy a couple of favors. His presence alone had saved me more than once.

It was the first day of school and everybody was all in a fuss about nothing. I mean, we were in the tenth grade now, weren't we? We could find our classes better than the freshmen could at least.

I thought I was late, and I kind of was. It was a minute before class started, and there were only ten people in the room, including myself and Alexander.

"You noticed," he stated, not taking his gaze from the door.

His voice was loud, but I had learned a while back that no one else could hear him. He told me that too. Never quite explained why, but if you could make people not see you, or objects you didn't want them to see (like clothes - he would go around naked then, and that

would be awkward for me then), then they could be fooled into not hearing you as well.

I nodded, looking about the room, memorizing the details like I had to take a test on it. And maybe we had to. Some teachers were overzealous when it came to the second day of school, unlike the no nonsense teachers who just started class. Like Math class.

Math, she had given us all homework already. A review of last year, Adv Algebra II with trig, but I could care less whether we needed it or not. I hated when teachers gave you homework on the first day of school.

"Yeah," I voiced, keeping mine quiet. "He seemed to be reacting to my thoughts more than myself. Unless I was speaking out loud or something." I had to keep my voice low, since people could hear me. I wasn't as lucky as Alex was to just blend into the background. He's the best wallflower I know.

He had told me that he could hear me just fine when I mutter though, crystal clear.

The science room was covered in posters with weird animals and positive go lucky sayings. All the rooms did, for my knowledge of the school, I was convinced. It was roomy, with three rows of paired desks for lab assignments no doubt.

Now more people had come in, with seconds to spare for class. I had to say something to Alexander now, and not later.

"Were you friends with them? They could see you, right?" I pulled my gaze back to his face. His jaw clenched once. Twice.

Then he answered, not taking his eyes off the door. "No and yes. I'm pretty sure they don't like me. Bella could see."

Short. Distinct. The guy really doesn't like talking. It was also sent another chill running down my spine. They really did outnumber him, and Bella could see him while Edward could hear his thoughts. How did you fight someone who could hear what you were going to do before you actually did it? What if they fought and . . .

My gaze, along with everyone else's, was drawn to the door like it was an eye magnet.

No.

Bella was in my science class as well. She came in alone, looking completely deflated. She turned her head, looking longingly out the door into the hall.

We all heard why in a second, but I doubt it carried as much weight to others as it did to me. "Get to your class Edward. It starts soon," the teacher reprimanded out in the hall. Bella lingered only a second longer, then danced to an empty seat much like mine; away from people.

The bell rang as soon as she sat down.

The bell is annoying too. It isn't a bell, it just kind of dings a couple of times. But it still signified the end and beginning of class, which was still fairly empty.

I counted heads. Nineteen people.

Of course, that was counting me and Alexander again, but it was still a pretty small class. Last year, Adv Biology had been even smaller, but compared to my classes this year, it was really tiny.

The teacher took her place in front of the room, and began with the whole first day drill. Seating arrangement came first, with the promise that we might be able to choose our seats later in the year since we were so much more responsible than the other academic classes. One look told me otherwise.

I saw three girls with cell phones in their laps, paying no attention to the world around them, texting. Another girl was smacking gum, watching and daring the clock to move faster. A guy was looking at a porno mag in his lap, hidden under the desk. One girl was touching up her makeup for the afternoon. A dark looking gothic girl with her boyfriend had their heads inclined, listening to some sort of music player. His hand was trailing up her inner leg.

Oh yeah. We're the best example this school has. Real responsible and mature. It is high school, I know, and I rather don't care what people do as long as they leave me alone in the process. But they don't, so I mind. I really just didn't want a nice lady like Mrs. Herr to be deluded into thinking that we were what we aren't. At least this meant that I could choose a seat furthest away from these people.

She started calling name and pointing to chairs then. People started getting up and shuffling about, moving to where they needed to be. She made it down the one row, and moved back to the second. Each row only had six pairs in each, halfway to the end. I held my breath until she made her way passed the front.

She still hadn't called my name yet, and I was safe from the dreaded front row. I could continue sitting where I was instead of getting up and lounging awkwardly about the room like others, since I was out of the planned seating range. She went through the third row now, bypassing the first three seats without saying my name. I hissed out a yes when she read my name, second to last. I was in the last row. Furthest row from the door, but I didn't care really. Not as long as I was in the back.

My standards are pretty low.

I didn't care, at least, until it clicked who also hadn't been given a seat.

Then I understood that this stupid class was divvied up by alphabetical order, the upper half of it.

My last name is Marsh. Eve Ninevah Marsh. My mom liked the whole religious deal at the time of my birth, but I'm not psyched into it.

More important, Bella's last name is Masen.

How freaking perfect could this be? My science partner wasn't even my species. I don't know what she was besides the epitome of splendor. I slumped into my chair, Alexander trailing behind me. He took a seat on an empty desk behind me, then made himself comfortable by becoming the epitome of relaxation.

He laid back, hooked his ankle on the curve of his knee, and propped his hands behind his head, closing his eyes to top it off. He looked like he was peacefully sleeping, if I hadn't known he couldn't sleep. Again, just another thing he had told me when I asked him.

Bella danced into the chair beside me, all smiles. I wished she would stop. It hurt my serious decrepit ego. "Hello," she murmured, her voice a song.

A flippin' SONG. Like musical notes and a melody and an underlying beat. The beat was my own heart, thumping in my inner ears, but I don't _care_. I want a voice like that.

I love music. I really can get lost in it. Kind of like getting lost in a good book, but I love music ten times more than reading. I play the drums in my spare time, but the orchestra here has too many drums already and won't let me play. I can also play the guitar too, just not as well as the drums.

I would kill, seriously kill with a plotted murder and everything, to have a voice like that. And nothing vain, but I would just record me singing and play if back for myself. Just one day with that voice. One. Day.

My gaze narrowed, but she kept up the smile and I couldn't stay angry for something she probably couldn't control. As long as she didn't talk excessively, I'd be fine. "Hey," I muttered back.

Her smile faltered with my tone, and she stared forward. "The name is Bella. You?"

I know your name is Bella. I have class with you, you stupid unobservant. . .

I forced a smile. I hate my smile. I have braces, and even though I brush, they still don't shine pearly white. I'm getting them whitened when I get them off, just not as blindingly white as her's. "Eve." I'm sure she heard it when the teacher read it off the list, but I could be polite. Try to be polite on the outside.

"That's a very nice name. Pretty," Bella said, her voice soft and light. And sincere too. Not one of those stupid things people say in monotone conversations. She meant it.

I gawked at her. I had to. Had I just gotten a compliment from someone like _her_?

"Are those people you met after lunch always like that to you?" Now her voice took on a harder edge, and I craved the light conversational tone she had used to start off with. I wondered how the others sounded when they spoke. Edward's was nice, but would Alice's and Jasper's be just like her's?

Snapping my jaw shut, I looked up front, trying to pay half attention to the teacher as I spoke. She was blabbing about rules and the percentage and credits and crap I had heard ten times over in other classes. Nothing important. "I get used to it. Really."

Bella frowned, a crease forming on her stone skin forehead. "It's not very nice, what they said to you. I'm glad Jasper was there, or things looked like they could have gotten out of hand."

You have no idea. Or. . .wait. She could see Alexander, which meant she saw how close he was to breaking faces at that moment. There was nothing further I could say, so I shrugged.

The frown and crease stayed, much to my dismay. "Why did they call you 'Ghost'?"

"Hard to explain," I muttered. I wanted to cry out something more along the lines of 'Why do you even care', because no one bothers to show that they care for me. Not for too long at least. When they find out I'm a loon, they flee. I just can't help hoping and praying and talking to these people though, when they feign interest like that.

This seemed genuine, like before when she said I had a pretty name. "I'm listening," she whispered, smiling for support now.

Yeah, I could tell she was. I threw a look back to Alex. He hadn't moved, but I was sure he was listening. More than sure. Positive. He was the one who listened exceptionally well to whatever I had to say. He was the only one who cared.

"It's probably because I'm pale." I chickened out. I couldn't say the truth.

She cracked a larger smile though, buying it. Her smile showed more of her shiny and white teeth. Alexander's teeth frightened me, but for some reason I was drawn to hers. I leaned slightly into her, fascinated with them. I saw how tawny her eyes were, like Edward's.

Nothing like the sinister color of Alexander's.

"Wonder what they'll say about us." She held up an arm, staring at it with such curiosity, like it had spoken to her or turned a different color other than white. "I'm paler than you, I'm sure," she joked, smiling just a little now.

The same crease had appeared on her forehead, less pronounced than before but still there.

The teacher was still going over the rules, either not knowing we were talking or not caring.

I chickened out again, right when I was about to say why the call me Ghost for real. Edward would tell her anyway. He probably had all the biggest secrets the world could hold.

I personally think my head would explode with all that information, to be honest. I whispered, shaking my head. "No one would ever make fun of any of you, I'm sure." My voice sounded too rough, almost like a growl.

"That's silly, in any case. What did you do, other than avoid the sun, to get so many. . .glares?" So she had noticed that too.

I wish I had known about this species before I had done some really stupid things. It would have widened my whole idea on being alone in the world.

"I'm. . ." I struggled for the right words. But I couldn't say them. Wouldn't say them. "I'm just different then them," I relented a little bit, throwing a worried look back to Alexander.

Bella followed my gaze, or must have seen me looking because her smile had fallen from her face altogether. "It's because of him?"

I shrugged, turning back around in my seat. Alexander hadn't moved in the slightest. "Part of it." Then, as soon as the words left my mouth, I kicked myself internally. I could have lied. I could have said it was all his fault and avoided the truth.

But no. He was a very, very small part of my stupid life problem. He was so tiny. . .so minuscule. No. When I was little I had told my mother about how there was another 'one', unlike all those others that I saw. He touched things. He was solid. I could touch him and hear him and he didn't talk to me like the others did.

I think I finally scared her out of her mind. My mom is an alcoholic now. She smokes at least three packs a day. I'm sure I don't see half of what she inhales or takes into her body. She has really abusive boyfriends, and she's divorced from a really rich guy who she thought was her world. My dad was her world actually, and it was likewise for him, but I shattered that.

I broke everything, no matter where I went. And this isn't just a classic guilt trip for kids who have divorced parents. I am the problem that was a wedge between them. It's their fault for not fixing it, but my fault for being there in the first place. I had to stop my mind from thinking back too far into my life, and I shuddered with the effort.

I didn't need a prying telepathist reading my mind and finding out just how disturbed I was so he could snicker to others like him. Yeah. Edward had to be some huge gossiper in the family. What else could he be?

And the family would find out that I was real freaky. I ruined my mom and I ruined my life because of this stupid thing. Who wants to see the dead people anyway? Who wants to see things and be able to figure things out before people can even comprehend what's actually going on? Well, it's not much of a use at all, either of them.

One gets me in too much trouble, and the other just scares people. I mean, who wants to hear that their Great dead Aunt Geraldine is behind them, asking directions to the drug store like she would have if she was still living. Or if you knew where her gravy recipe was.

Find any use in that, cause I sure as hell don't. . .

**..: That's the first chapter. Long, but hey. I don't like it when things are too short. And I had to end it somewhere. I just hope it answered some questions, like where the Cullens come in or who this POV is coming from. Remember, I so came up with this while watching Drake and Josh. My mind was so lost at that point. . . :..**

**..: For some reason, I like the idea of an outsider's view of Edward. Debating whether or not to wait off on continuing this as well, since I do have another fan fic to finish as well. Unless I get. . .like. . .huge amounts of reviews for this. Hint hint. These will both go on to be like. . .novels in the end though. :..**

**..: 9179 words too. That's a personal record for me. Not counting this last paragraph. Also, as a last note, this high school is mine. Some people I don't like were used at my expense. And I could care less whether they know or not. Solanco. It has a web page. Google it again, if you are curious enough. It's pretty cloudy here, and open, with a lot of animals out here for hunting. I don't see it changing anytime soon, not even in the next thirty years or so. :..**

**..: And be up to date on your movies and music. If you haven't guessed, I use both in this. And if I mention it's a good movie, go Netflix it or something. Avoid Blockbuster like the plague, if you even . . . like. . .know what I'm talking about. . . :..**


	3. Luckiest Dang Person Alive

**(A/N: Well, well, well. What have we here. . .eight reviews of confusion? Well that sucks. Anyway. . .)**

**(Actually, I'm surprised I got this many reviews here. It's wonderful. Delightful. I have made water in my pantaloons. . .okay, yeah. The Amazing Screw on Head is, for lack of a better word, AMAZING. I need to quote from it. But it's extremely weird. Obviously. Pantaloons? Come now. You are wanting more because you are confused and you want your questions answered. Thing is, is it a good kind of confused or just an evil horrible kind that drives you insane? These chapters take longer to type, sorry, just because they are so long. Someone mentioned they liked them longer, so I'll continue with the 8,000 word chapters for as long as I can.)**

**(So, without further ado**, **here you are with the long chapter two. 'Luckiest Dang Person Alive' is inspired from me to you by 'Missing You' by Blink182. Also by the movie, 'The Grudge'. Sorry I can't pop out these chapters like 'Eat you Alive' can. 0.o Girl had one out a day. . . )**

The rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Bella had asked a few more of the mundane questions in science and then had shut up much to my relief. Turned out I had another two classes with her; World Literature advanced and Western Civ. Edward and some other friend of their's was in my World Lit class.

I couldn't count myself any luckier than what I am now.

Edward had kept giving Alex weird glances throughout that class, muttering under his breath to the larger kid seated next to him.

The other guy was tall. Beastly. A monster. Again, not someone who was human, but who wasn't going to eat me or be found under my bed when I went to sleep tonight. I think. He had jet black hair that was down passed his shoulders, which he tied off into a ponytail. His skin was russet in color, and he had high cheek bones and black glittery eyes that were shadowed in his forehead. He was in eleventh grade, a junior, and was thrown into the combined classes that this school offers.

His name was Jacob Black, and I think he drove Alexander more insane that Edward managed to. He couldn't stop growling, or lifting his lip and scrunching his nose when someone walked by, as if they brought with them some stench he didn't favor. I also noticed that Jacob kept looking at some picture under his desk clearly distracted. It never ceases to amaze me the things people miss because they simply aren't paying attention. Anyone could plainly see that he was enamored with something else besides the grading breakdown of the class and the certain list of class rules we were being given.

Of course, when Edward caught me looking, he leaned over and whispered something to Jacob, taking the picture from him in the process. In the brief second it was visible to my eyes, I saw it was an angel, or a young cherub, with light brown hair that fell in ringlets to her mid back. She was staring at the camera and its holder with large round milk chocolate eyes that made my heart flutter and melt when I saw them. She was holding onto a stuffed wolf for dear life, clutching it to her chest as she stared forward, her expression blank and open.

Then it was gone in a flash and Edward was back to facing front again like a good little boy. Jacob glowered at him for a while, then followed suit, looking a little dead without his picture. But I couldn't sit still for the rest of class like they did, and I kept throwing looks to the guy. Jacob was watching the teacher pace in the front of the classroom, but clearly paying attention to something else deep inside his mind.

Being around the guy gave me the creeps, but only kinda sorta. Not like being around Jasper or anyone else for that matter.

Needless to say, I fled from the class only to find them both waiting at the last one, saying farewells to Bella before moving along down the hall to duck into another room. I saw something glint on her hand as she waved after them, which I saw was a ring once I got close enough. A huge ring. With lots of diamonds. Loads of them, all glittering and catching the light, encased in gold webbing.

Dang. No girl fresh out of high school could get that lucky.

It really was too bad that the seating chart was arranged differently in this room so me and her were all the way across the room from the other. Not so much of a good thing that she insisted on coming up to me after class to wish me a good day, hoping we could speak a bit more tomorrow.

Her eyes had lingered on Alexander's face for a second just before she left the room. But I had looked in detail at her face as she studied his. Then thought back to the picture of the little girl I had seen, holding onto her stuffed wolf like it meant the world to her. . .

Holy Crivens! It was at that point I made the theory that they were connected; Bella and Edward both had features that were expressed on the little girl's face. These things could _breed_. Well. . .it didn't take someone with half a mind to figure that one out.

I shouldered my bag, shaking my head away from the thoughts of the day, and drove myself from the room to my locker. Key in hand, I was too distracted with putting my books into the skinny metal containment to see any of them coming. For once.

Alexander saw them though, and like a faithful little watchdog he sounded the warning. A snarl jerked my head upright, and I locked eyes with the deepest onyx color ever seen in an iris; the eyes of the Devil himself. Rat was only a little while away, to be near me in a minute if he booked, but Alexander was looking the other way, opposite of Rat and troop, to someone who was further down the hall.

It took a second for the whole situation to register, then I jammed the rest of my books I didn't need for tonight into the locker, not bothering to keep it organized now. I had followed his gaze.

Craig was walking toward me as well, hell bent on a path of destruction. Rat was closer, with the same plans on mind, but perhaps his involved a bit more pain and violence.

"And what are you going to do, you big dummy?" I muttered, slamming the door shut with a metallic yet still ominous clang. I wrenched my key, hoping to at least get it pocketed before. . .

"What was that Ghost? Got something to say to us, or your little imaginary friend? Does he say anything back to you, little girl?"

. . .they came.

I rolled my eyes, turning and then suppressing a gasp. Rat was closer than I expected, his face inches from mine. He put his hands out on either side of me, dashing all hope of escape. A smirk formed on his stupid little rat face; a response, no doubt, to my surprise.

I recovered, then smiled back too, sweetly and way too polite I hoped, and inclined my head to the side so my bangs would fall away to reveal both of my eyes. His crotch was so vulnerable, and now that I only carried my math book, running away would really be too easy. And once I got on the bus, I'd be in the clear. No way they would harm me in front of parents or even seniors for that matter. Because older people got over this kind of stuff. They learned that there are freaks in the world and you just got to let them pass because they aren't going to hurt you if you do. However, I was the kind of 'freak' that would perhaps hurt you if you didn't leave her alone.

"Hi Zakery," I sang, adjusting my bag slightly so it was behind me, pressed between my body and the lockers. I think the worst part of these situations was that I knew the rat liked me. Just the way he teased me, or would hang back and let the others do the job while he watched, or by the blatant fact that he liked to be near me, told me so. There were lots of stuff you noticed when you paid attention, or rather, cared to pay attention.

The smirk faltered slightly, but the resolve stuck in his eyes. "Well Ghost? We've got some pretty unfinished business, you know. A conversation to pick up. After lunch, that was mean of you to ditch us like that. We _were_ only trying to _talk_ you know. We all know you need some people to talk to, isn't that right Brandi?"

"Yeah, talk," Brandi sneered, slamming her shoulder into the locker to my right. With her arms crossed, you could definitely see the curves waaaay too clearly. She leaned there, snapping gum, watching me with cruel little eyes.

And unless Alexander wanted me to give him Hell later, he would let me handle them. He was avoiding people in the middle of the hall, watching the ever approaching foot ball jock Craig come nearer and nearer.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Alex was jealous. But why would he be? Craig was in a totally different species, if I was correct, than Alexander was.

Chub-chub and Chris hung back, a little ways behind Rat, watching for any teachers. They didn't run terribly fast, I knew from gym experience, and with Rat, the fastest, doubled over in pain, Brandi would drop down to help him. Violence didn't solve anything, but it sure was nice in tough situations. And it would so be worth it, even if I paid for it later.

It didn't help that I could picture it all so clearly as well. Just a little more waiting, being patient until I could make a break for it when Craig passed by, and then BAM! Knee in the groin and I'd be gone, darting off to the buses with Alexander close behind, probably smiling his usual smile. The one that hardly counted as a smile at all.

Too bad I never got that chance to reenact that. Alexander was facing one direction one moment, then another in the next, coiled like he was ready to pounce on whoever turned the corner next. Edward and Bella turned the corner, the apparent targets, with Jacob looming over them from behind.

Jacob was much taller than Jasper, and he seemed to have grown since I last saw him stuffed in a desk. His face was passive as his monster buddies looked at everyone else but me. Bella was looking to Alexander's reaction, no doubt, and Edward was glaring from Rat to someone further on down the hall.

It happened so fast. . .a literal knee jerk reaction if you will.

So yeah, I got my chance. It just wasn't as perfect as I would have planned it to be. In just pure terror at these guys coming to my rescue _again_, I was grabbing Rat's shoulders and jamming my knee upwards. In the next second, he was on the ground cursing openly, clutching his stomach. I had hit him hard, but I didn't have time to gloat.

I grabbed the strap of my bag, securing it there for my dash away, and took off, darting around people in the hall without really looking at them.

And then the next impossible thing happened (the first being that those three would show up right at that moment). An arm shot out to catch me and pull me into a chest like I was some football to be protected.

At one time in my dark and bitter life, I had craved being near this chest. I had snuggled up to it freely, but now I was being held there against my will. "Hey," he scolded, his voice light and joking. "That wasn't very nice Eve." At least, I thanked whatever God there was, he hadn't resorted to name calling yet. Just childish shoving and pushing. "Guys hurt when you hit them there. Zak. . .well maybe he's hamming it up a bit, but just a warning for you to steer clear of others."

Craig and Rat didn't get along at all. Craig was upper class, you could say, and Rat was very lower class. Money wise. Opposite ends of the spectrum. They, like everyone else in the school, liked picking fun at the weird girl.

Why hadn't I kept my trap shut when I was little, I'll never know.

I pushed against his grip. It wouldn't budge, so I glared up into his face.

In human standards, Craig is very handsome. He has angled features, a sharp and pointed nose, and shaggy light brown hair. His light blue eyes are always light and laughing, glittering in the moment no matter what it may be. His skin is darkened from playing out in the sun all summer long, darker still in comparison to mine.

He stopped walking forward, looking down at me. I felt belittled. "Great," I managed, darting my eyes away from his to Alex's. "I've learned my lesson Craig. Let me go." I hadn't forgotten the little stunt in the cafeteria he had pulled earlier on today.

Craig laughed, and I stiffened for a moment before I realized he was reacting to my words and not my thoughts. Then I saw he wasn't even paying attention to me. He and his buddies were looking further on down the hall, to Rat who was picking himself up, using the lockers as a brace.

Hey, the enemy of my dire enemy is my friend, right? For the time being.

Alex was leaning against the lockers, watching as well, but with his jaw tight. Edward I saw faltered in step, then moved around Rat and continued on, scanning the hall as if looking for someone. So nonchalant.

I struggled a bit more, hoping to be free before he 'found' me, and Craig laughed again, this time at me. "Not so fast. Maybe Zak would like you to apologize."

"No," I growled, my voice almost to the point of pleading as I squirmed like a fish caught in a net. Or do they flop? Flopping would certainly help in this situation, but I wasn't going to try it and make myself look like an idiot when it didn't work.

I was through with wasting my time with these guys. The hall was practically empty now, and I was not going through the motions like I had so many times last year.

Last year I had missed the bus so many times, my mother called me every day at three to see if I had made it on. And when she didn't call and wouldn't pick up, I would get sick to my stomach using another form of 'transportation' or bored to tears while I waited for the late bus.

Craig forced me to take a step closer to Ratface who was using Brandi's arm, who had indeed stayed like I predicted her to, as a crutch. He was chewing on his lip, holding back the screams and yells I knew he wanted to throw at me, but wouldn't. Like I pointed out, the kid liked me. He just had deranged ways of showing affection. Sick that he's liked me since elementary school, but is too much of a man to admit it. And he's not the only one.

Craig got over my weirdness, but we broke up for different, more difficult reasons other than the occult fear of me.

As I said, I am pretty. I have smaller features, with a curved nose and rosy cheek bones. That's about the only natural color on my face. My chin is curved, smoothed over like the rest of my facial features, and I have a very soft appeal to people, I'm assuming. I have curves, more than some girls but not overly amplified like others. And I take pains to hide all of these. Why? Because I hate the attention that I get otherwise. I make sure nobody has an excuse to look at me.

The only makeup I really wear is lip gloss, a dark rose red and another fresh blood color, and some mascara which I hardly wear unless I'm sure it's waterproof. Nothing like going out to dance in the rain only to have your makeup run when you do so.

My hair even likes to hide my face from the world. It's a shade of natural blonde, mind you, natural. I get the color from both of my parents, and it's a really light color. Almost white. I have it cut pixy short, kind of like Alice's, only my style curves around my face and it's longer. The bangs are parted so that they fall over the right side of my face, covering my emerald stone eyes.

I'm thin, tall, and have some sense of fashion, but simply choose not to use it. I'm pretty, and I don't wear excessive makeup. I stick to it that girls, no matter what they say, care about their appearance. Cold hard truth in life. Overall, what is there not to love?

Yes, ignore the fact that I'm a scitzo and have a stalker imaginary friend for a moment.

My life might actually be grand if I was 'normal'.

"Why not?" Craig crooned, and I forced myself into the conversation again. He was oblivious to the monsters fast approaching. He was too fixated on Rat and myself at that moment.

Rat had picked himself up, but was still holding himself with one hand. Chub-chub and Chris weren't looking over to Edward and gang as they were just a yard away from me now. Did no one understand that these things could kill them with a single twitch of their hands?

I closed my eyes, chewing my own lip off. This wasn't going to end pretty, most likely with me in tears if I still possessed the ability to cry.

It sucked that I also had to depend on these things to help me, yet again, because they were here and would. '_Edward?'_ I gasped, I'm not sure why, when he stopped scanning the empty hall to look at me expectantly. I had better kiss ass and fast, I realized. '_I'm sorry about everything I said before. That wasn't. . .nice of me. I get that. Could you help me now?_'

I cringed. Boy. That sounded lame.

But he nodded, his mouth turned up in some odd crooked smile. Bella and I watched him with wide eyes as he stopped just to Craig's right, letting the others pass by him to wait further down the hall. "I'm sure she'll apologize if you let her go," he suggested, looking up to Craig. His eyes seemed to burn or smolder from within, like a dying fire with amber coals. Neat.

I didn't notice that Craig's arm dropped as he gawked at Edward. I twirled away from him, right beside Alexander, with a sigh of relief, happy just to be free to breath now.

Then it took me a couple of seconds to process that everyone was looking to me. I flushed as Edward spoke, his tone slightly bored now. "Well? Are you going to apologize Eve? To R. . .Zak?"

I ducked my head, not sure if I was trying to hide the smile or the rush of heat to my face as I realized it was my bad now. "Sorry Zak," I called to my left. Under my breath I muttered, "But scaring and threatening people isn't nice either. No one hear's him saying sorry any time soon." But I left it at that, turning and rushing to the door that was located in the middle of this hallway.

My hopes deflated so fast, I felt my stomach in my knees. First day of school and I had missed the freaking buses out of this place.

I groaned, banging my head into the glass and then letting it rest there. It wasn't exactly an icy cold, just felt relaxing on my flustered skin. I liked how it felt. Smooth and cold.

My hand flew to my back pocket, fishing for the cell phone my dad had bought me last year for my birthday. To replace the one he had got me the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before. . .

"Call Mother dearest," I said clearly into the speaker, and I listened for the random blips as the thing dialed the number for me. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in this school with this kind of phone. It takes pictures, can access the internet accesses e-mail, holds two hundred and fifty songs, plays movies, and has caller id with a crap load of other features. It even comes in a snazzy pitch black color with lime green and hot pink accents.

I shot a look to the end of the hall, everyone but the Cullens gone from it. Rat and his troop had probably limped away, licking their wounds, to the back of the school parking lot. Brandi had a brother that drove them home every day.

Craig and his friends were heading to the down stairs weight room or to the foot ball field for practice, which ran everyday after school once it started.

The phone rang again, and I glared at it. Sometimes the phone would make snappy remarks to me. It was programmed to do that, by your's truly, but I seriously was hating the feature. Who wants some snarky British person telling them that they have homework due, or to wake up, or to hit the store for milk when you get home. Technology these days. Sheesh.

I almost didn't want to use it because of that. On top of the fact that it was my dad who bought it for me. But it was a nice phone. Saying I broke it or lost it would not only tear up my mom _and_ my dad, but he would just buy me another one. And then another one. And another one. He liked wasting money on me. I guess he thought I would like him more as a person if he did.

It rang for the fifth time, then went straight to the answering machine. My mother's tired voice told me who she was and to leave a message. She might get back to the caller, me, later. Oh goody.

Option two was undesired at this point in time, so I chose to sit for the late bus and not drink milk tomorrow morning with my coffee. That was the only cost, since my battery for my iPod (another snazzy gift, this time for Christmas) was fully charged for the first day.

I glared at the screen for just a second, daring it to say something to my face, when Alex growled into my ear. But I saw him, just plain and simple, once I moved it slightly so the phone's mirrored screen could accommodate him.

He was all smiles. Cheery, even.

"If you need a ride, we have plenty of room in our car."

My heart skipped a beat. I think, one day in my future, I'm going to die from heart failure. Does it run in my family, I wonder. . .

I turned as Edward tilted his head, as if listening for something. "Nope. Healthy as a horse." I pocketed the phone, giving him the most unbelieving stare I could muster that practically screamed you're kidding me. "Nope," he shook his head, smiling again.

I narrowed my eyes. Just because I apologized didn't mean he had to torment me like this. He laughed, then held up his hands like he was guilty and I was a cop. "Okay, I'll stop."

Pfft. As if. If I had the ability like that, I would love tormenting people. Behind him, Jacob whined and shifted his weight. Edward sighed and turned to face him. "We're leaving now Jake. Alice can learn patience," he retorted to something I couldn't have heard before turning back to me. "I'm serious though. It's about to rain, and I doubt you want to wait in line for the late bus on top of waiting for hours in the main hall. If you really need the ride," he shrugged, trailing off and turning back to Bella who was at his side in an instant, giving me a puzzled look.

I huffed out a stupid thanks anyways, and stormed past them. Stupid perfect monster things. Don't know why I put up with Alexander as he is. Probably because he doesn't talk and just sits there. Maddening, but not as maddening as cheekily commenting on everything I thought of. They wouldn't be paying attention to me anyway, if it wasn't for Alex. Because of Alex. . .I prolly wouldn't be here either.

Life without Alexander would be worse, so I stopped thinking about it and took out my iPod. The screen sprung to life with a single click, and I tapped the play button after I had put on my oversized ear phones.

Some people had those kinds that you plugged into your ear and then you _thought_ of the song you wanted, or the command for it, and it worked from there. But I always had the fear they would short circuit in my brain and kill me. Whole sci-fi fantasy imagination I have.

The Main Hall is the main entry point of the high school. There are vending machines down near the front entrance doors, doors near the back lead to the back parking lot, doors along the walls lead to the gym and the cafeteria, and along those walls were benches.

Wooden benches that practically begged you to sit on them too. I chose a rather void one, dumping my bag on the floor next to me. I turned up my music as I sat down, looking over to a pair of girls down the hall. I figured, since they were far enough away, they wouldn't hear me if I sang just ever so quietly. . .

". . ._webs from all the spiders, catching things and eating their insides, like. . ."_

Alex took a seat beside me, leaning his head back against the wall. He took a frozen stance, but sat too tense and too close for comfort. Guarding me.

Something moved in the shadows, shifting just slightly, then hunkered back down before I could get a fully focused view on it. "Great," I muttered pausing I my song singing and merriment.

I moved down a little on the bench, away from Alex and the shadow. It was all the way down at the end of the hall, but I still didn't like how close it was. They rather didn't like being out in the open, I've found, but today wasn't like most days. It was an unlucky day. I didn't want to be here to find out just what it looked like.

I think, earlier in the day, I touched upon what I see in my mind. Dead things, I had used. More like memories or shadows of what people used to be. They don't normally hurt people, just trail behind them, longing saturating their whole being. They're confused and pathetic things for the most part, but some hold hatred, fear, and others more positive emotions like hope or joy.

I sometimes wonder just what my purpose is. I've seen movies where the main characters sees dead people and he has to help them. That's the plot for the entire story, basically.

For one, I'm pretty sure these aren't ghosts of people who are trapped in this world. These, or some of them, don't even look human. Some are animal-like in quality or shapeless shadows. Those that don't take on an ashen, misted human appearance take on the shadowed lurker appearance. They are normally the scary ones that want, so badly, to hurt you but can't.

Second, I can't help them. They don't talk, for the most part. I have found cases where they speak some garbled nonsense like recipes or directions or just plain gibberish. Few rarely talk to me openly or answer my questions. I've tried all that. And how are you supposed to help someone who sounds like they belong in some scary Japanese film? (1) They didn't even speak English, let alone a language. So no, I can't help the dead.

Thirdly, I don't just see dead people. I sometimes see copies of living people walking around. I once went to a city with my dad who took me there so I could meet his girl friend and her wonderful little children, and I saw one of these copied beings. I was scared enough to ask the man if anything was wrong in his life, and at first he didn't respond. But he was crying; I remember that. He was weepy and puffy eyed, and he finally blurted out that his wife of fifty years had died that morning.

It's confusing, but think of me. I have to deal with it, not knowing what I'm capable of or what they are. I'm observant, yeah, so maybe that has something to do with it. I can see Alex too, but so can Bella. I'm one of two in that case. One of the world in the other.

I like to have theories on what I see. Theory for what I am is just this, I'm really observant. So observant I see things no one else does. Either that or I really do have some mental disease.

Theory about why they exist is a bit more weird. The world, perhaps, has a memory of its own. I mean, trees record periods of drought, glacier fields record water level, and rocks record periods of life, so why can't some part of the world record people and the emotions they have? They then roam about the world as some magnetic thing that some people see or pick up with special devices.

Makes sense to me at least.

But I really don't know. The things tend to come and go as they wish, creeping about. And I know I don't see things because shadows don't follow people when the sun is directly overhead, or people don't have more than one shadow, or even when it's dark out, people don't give off light unless they're radioactive. And then I know they aren't alive either.

"_Don't waste your time on me, you're already the voice inside my head. . ."_

I call them ghosts because a ghost, as a definition, can mean plenty of things. I'm using the one that means memory or that of a 'ghost of his former self'.

All I know for sure is that they can't touch people physically. They really want to, but they can't. I also know that sometimes they aren't dead, they just reflect what people were before something in their lives changed all of that, like death or childbirth or something like that. To top it all off, Alex is just invisible. Not sure how, but if Jasper can change moods, and Edward can read minds, maybe they all have. . .like. . .super powers?

I guess I'm just really lucky to have found such wonderful things in my life.

Outside, a light flashed across the sky and a thundering boom that followed a few seconds later shook the school. Edward was right. . .but how? Nothing on the news said anything about rain. Down another hall, the one I hadn't come from, I heard Craig complaining openly. "Aw man! It's raining; practice in the gym guys.

I groaned. I'm really, _really_ lucky today.

I skipped to the next song, hoping for something I knew really well. I did; it was an old Linkin Park song from their first album, and I smiled as I started to pick up the words. I must have been singing louder than I thought because the girls down the hall called up to me, distracting me so I had to pause my music. "What was that?" I called, seeing the three 'things' out of the corner of my eye.

They were by the doors, by the shadow that lurched for them. I almost told them to watch out, but skimped. Edward probably knew already and it was 2D. 2D things don't exist on 3D planes of existence. It could not touch them, no matter how badly it wanted to.

"I said," the girl with unnatural blonde hair called back, turning her face to me again with a distortion of her pretty little features. "Shut up. Nobody likes to hear your banshee wails of death, so just shut up." Ouch. That stung a little.

She turned back to her friend, giggling, and I had the urge to march up to her and slap her. But stupid people cannot be slapped. It gets nothing done, and you must refrain from violence when people are stupid. They can't help it you know? They were kinda just handed their brains at birth. God's given gifts for them

But staying with them if I couldn't sing was going to be Hell. I'd rather get home quick now and sing all I want there then be told to shut up by some banshee hating girl. You know, banshees are just misinterpreted. They can't help wailing about death, since death is such a powerful thing.

Okay, yeah, I'm only thinking this because she pissed me off. Perhaps, in another life in some distant future, she'll be a freaking banshee. I'd love that. Seriously I would.

"You know what Alex?" He didn't move, but I knew he was listening. "I rather hate my life, you know? Just hate it. And this, this I'm going to hate so much more." As I muttered, I gathered my stuff. Those three hadn't left yet, but they were so close to the doors. Almost out them.

Damn Edward and him not telling them. "Get up you stupid. . .ugh," I stood with a huff, then started for the end of the hall. Alexander was beside me in a moment, his expression confused.

"What are we doing?"

"Nothing dangerous, I'm sure." The fear entered my mind once more that they were more in number than Alexander was. There was nothing I could do to fix that.

They stopped in time, looking over their shoulders as I approached, naturally skirting the shadow that lurched for me. It seemed more violent now that I was closer to it. It started to climb the wall as I watched it, wary of both it and them, making some drowned gurgling cry. Dark spindles darted out from its sides, but I watched it now without fear. Definitely a two dimensional being. There was no way, again, that it could get to me as long as I was in a three dimensional plane.

I had no desire to go plane hopping like in some science fiction flick today. I just wanted to get _home_ and be in peace.

As I smiled in return to Edward's polite smile, I heard a horn blare from outside and saw a car sitting idly by the curb. That's right; Alice was waiting with the car. But Alice didn't look terribly old. I could see Bella driving more than pixie.

I sometimes can't help the nick names. Edward was still the first dubbed Bronzey I had met. Bella was just Bella. Jacob could be. . .he could be Brawny.

We were walking outside as I started going over the nick name list in my head, and Edward snorted and started speaking under his breath, amused with my thoughts for some stupid reason. Well, in no way was I going to keep in entertained for very long.

Plus, I was going to be crammed into a car with these people for thirty minutes. That's if they didn't drive to the town's limit to dump both me and Alexander's body into the creek.

Wouldn't that be a lovely way to end today?

The car was hard to miss. It was a buttery yellow Porche, and an old one at that. It was shiny and sleek like it had just been bought off the lot, but I knew it had to be at least thirty years old by now. 911 turbos simply didn't exist nowadays. Those things ran on gas. But one quick glance to the hood and roof of the car told me that it ran partly on solar energy. A hybrid. It didn't make any sense to have solar cars here though, most likely the top rainiest places in the United States, for the record.

But damn. To haul that thing over. . .to make the conversation to hybrid solar from gas must have been a hefty bill. Whoever in the Cullens liked this car, they loved it. Way too much. It was unhealthy love that kept this relationship between car and owner together.

The tinted window rolled down and there sat Alice, leaning across the seat. "I saw that you would bring her, so I sent Jasper with Emmet and Rosalie. Get in here quick; it's about to really down pour in seven. . .six. . ."

How would she know? "Five. . .four. . ." Thunder ripped the sky and I just had to hesitate for another three seconds. The rain intensified ten fold, and I started to mutter as I made my way to the car. Alice rolled up the window, the last glance I got of her smug.

But how could she have known, like Edward had known? No, the connection lay in the fact that he could read Alice's mind, so Alice had originally known it was going to rain although the weather men did not. Built in weather detector?

The rest of the Cullens were jumping into the car, Edward and Bella moving around the back so they got in on the same side. Alexander started muttered curses under his breath, but got in when I did all the same. I flushed when I saw that Bella was sitting on Edward's lap to make room for me and the invisible guy, looking puzzled at me as I threw my drenched messenger bag on the ground at my feet.

Alice sniffed disdainfully at it and our sopping wet figures, but stamped on the gas pedal as soon as Alexander and Jacob had closed the door. The force of being propelled forward as such made me grapple with the middle seat belt. Edward, to my left, chuckled. "Yes, that's a good idea."

"I'm not going to get into an accident and you know it," Alice said as she glared into the rearview mirror, directed toward Edward.

"Do I?" he teased, his tone light as he cradled Bella closer to him.

And I guess I was thrown into this whether I liked it or not. All facades were off, even with me here. Not sure if that was a good thing or not.

Edward dragged his eyes away from Bella to me, and his expression saddened. "Do we have a choice? Do you have a choice?" He looked up from me to Alexander pointedly, making his point in a single glance. No. I didn't have a choice when it came to changing this outcome. I was in their lives as much as they were in mine. I owed them too, for those stupid incidences with Zak.

Edward only scoffed and turned back to looking at Bella.

Way too personal what was going on there, so I turned to look out into the gray outside the window. Alexander was already doing this, his chin in hand. His gaze was more thoughtful than his usual blank. For a few seconds, I wondered just what he was thinking about, when Alice drug me back into the real world outside my mine.

"Where am I driving you to?" Her tone was light, much lighter than when she was addressing Edward. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him mouth the words 'sibling rivalry' and I smiled. I'll be suited with that.

"I live on Lloyd road. Please tell me you know where that is?"

"Of course," Alice laughed, not looking to the road. Then again, it was pointless to look outside the window just because it was so bleak and curtained with water even though the wind shield wipers were working over time. It was impossible to see any further than a few feet on the road.

The way Alice said it made me feel stupid though. Like of course she knew where Lloyd road was. And not just because she had a map hidden somewhere in the car either. Or a nifty built in GPS system. No. She _knew_.

"We live near there," Edward answered my unasked question. I glared at him for a second, then turned back out into the window. There was still no denying Alice was weird. Oh, they were all weird. Alexander, Edward, Bella. . .the whole lot of them. A lot weirder than me, or maybe I was just paranoid.

The rest of the car ride went by silently. The rain stopped beating so hard against the moving mass of metal after a good ten minutes, and I could see the familiar sites passing by the road again. We were there in less than fifteen minutes. A drive that normally took me at least thirty.

I stepped out of the car, following Alexander's suit. The rain had lessened into a drizzle, but I was still damp. Fifteen minutes wasn't enough to dry out, even with the heat blasting in the car.

"See you tomorrow!" Bella called before Edward slid out from under her to close the door before I could get it myself.

I smiled, waving good bye to them as they pulled out, shouldering my bag as I did. Nice. . .little creatures. I had totally been expecting a murder on the new's headlines tomorrow.

I used the walkway to get to my house. My house. The hated thing. It's a nice house, sure. Big. Too much space for me, with too many rooms and closets and nonsense. My dad built it for my mom when they were first married and he had filled it with everything that she could have ever desired. In some ways, he really spoiled her. There was a small indoor pool in the basement, and a hot tub upstairs in my mom's bathroom. There was a game center in the basement as well, which was never used unless Alexander was bored.

Alexander admitted to once using the free three month subscription card for X-box live my dad had sent for us and made an account. He played every night after I went to sleep, and I sometimes played with him. To be honest, I wouldn't complain if my dad sent me another one of those. It was too much fun to piss off those kids online by having Alexander blow them up with grenade launchers.

There was also a play station five which hasn't even been released in the states yet, along with a simulation game that uses your sense to play the game. Oh, and there's an old style classic DDR game in the corner that I sparsely use, but use more than anything else out of my free will (excluding the X-box episode).

In a small room in the basement there's an exercise room that's mainly mine. I use the treadmill and weights once a week, on Sunday, when I'm not busy with school work or sports.

The kitchen is high end. All these fancy new aged gadgets that are supposed to change the way meals are made. I avoid them like the plague. I hate all the new games and technology coming out. I swear, one of these days, it'll screw up the recipe and add cyanide instead of sugar to my cookies.

Our living room has the largest tv's that money can buy, and has one of those high end fireplaces that don't need wood to burn. They just do. Or more like, they cast the illusion that there is a fire in the fireplace. That'll probably burn down the house someday too. After the machines poison us and fry our brains. Just to hide the evidence.

The dining room is pretty standard, but it's still elegant. Too elegant for my taste. The carpets are a deep burgundy color and the walls a light maroon with white accents. I mean, it is pretty. Maybe if I didn't hate my Dad so much I might actually let him spoil me.

Because my room is the only room that he didn't design. I designed it by myself, for myself. When the house was built there was a baby room added onto it as an addition. My room is that addition, just refurnished and repainted and gutted out for my own personal use.

The walls are a darker gray color, with posters hanging all over the ceiling. I glued them there just in case my mom got any 'ideas' when I was at school. There's a small closet which is stuffed with most of my clothes, and a red stained wardrobe with any foldable clothes I have. A computer is on a desk next to the closet, and beside that is a book shelf with all my favorite books.

My huge freaking king sized bed is against the farthest wall, under the only windows in the room which take up practically the whole wall. Those are furnished with grey curtains that keep out the light when it dares to rear it's head, and the awful scene that is happening just out below, to the yard just in the back of my house.

Outside, for about a year now, there had been some construction going on. They were cutting down the trees and clearing it all out. My mom said that they were making room in the forest for some new neighbors, but I didn't want to hear the hope in her voice. Neighbors with kids, she had said. Neighbors that. . .knew. . .where. . .Lloyd's Road was.

"Dammit!" I screamed, slamming the door and rushing for the family room. There, I threw back the white curtains and peered outside through the gray, scanning for the roof I knew would be there.

Construction had stopped just a week ago and it hadn't occurred to me that someone might have moved in already. Those kinds of things took time, especially with brand new houses.

But if those people that had moved in didn't really need the water to work right, or needed the fridge to work perfectly to keep the unneeded food. . .then why not move in? They didn't even need the heating system to work for Criven's sakes.

It took a moment for me to place that I was moaning, banging my head against the window again and again. Alexander was beside me, looking out the window as well, glaring at the house.

"When did you piece it together?" I said, looking over to him. His face was passive once more, blank, but his eyes held all the anger I needed to see.

"Now," was his only reply.

I sighed, letting the curtains fall closed. The Cullens were my new neighbors. I was. . .I was really lucky. Luckiest dang person alive award goes to me. I'd like to make it out to my nonexistent friends and supporters who were there for me all my life. . .and I'd like a pistol with loaded bullets while I'm at it.

"Glad to see you're on top of things," I muttered, walking away. I stomped up the curving stair case, eager to get into my room. My room would show me their house more than the living room did, so I kind of wanted to see what it looked like. Kind of.

Alexander followed behind me, softly brooding in his mind no doubt. And now I really did feel like an idiot for not thinking of it in the car. But for now, I needed to mull things over in my mind before I started dinner. Plus, my mom's absence meant she was either out with her newest boyfriend, or taking another shift for work.

I fell back onto my bed, taking a deep breath and exhaling it forcefully. "Who are they?" I demanded after a second. Alexander was lingering near the window, peering out with the curtains pulled away. "You knew them right? You have to, if they don't like you."

"I don't _think_ they like me. They have no reason to, although the Cullens are filled with . . ._surprises_." He didn't speak for another thirty seconds at least (I started counting in my head because it kept me calm) but eventually did answer my question. "They're a family that's been around for a long while. There was a misunderstanding a while back. . .and they escaped just barely. Because of that. . .misunderstanding, however, I left the family I was with."

I flipped onto my stomach and kicked off my shoes. The hit the floor with their own thuds. My room is rather tidy, with nothing actually showing. If you started opening doors and drawers however, you might rethink your first impression evaluation. Hey, nothing is ever pretty on the inside too.

"What was the misunderstanding?"

"Why haven't you ever wondered about my history before now?" Alexander threw me a puzzled glance, his tone inquiring.

And truth be told, I'm not sure. I thought about that for a few minutes, then decided I needed something to read so I hopped off my bed and grabbed a random issue of Shojo Beat from my bookshelf. Then, I flopped back onto my bed and started flipping through the pages, trying fruitlessly to distract myself. "Because I always thought you weren't real. Just a figment of my imagination. Until now," I admitted, giving him a look, just for the benefit of the doubt.

He nodded, then let the curtain drop from the window. "That makes sense." He made his way around the bed, moving with grace, then pulled out my desk chair and turned it around so it was facing me. Then he took a seat, folding his legs over to look at me. But he didn't. He was leaning back casually, looking upward toward the ceiling. "I used to be with a police force, so to speak. The government of. . .my kind."

He paused and I flipped another page. The manga was the long ended Vampire Knight. This was a really old issue that I had bought off of eBay. "Go on," I urged, reading about Zero and Kaname and how both hated the other for liking the same girl. I shivered, remembering how the manga turned out.

"This doesn't bother you?" he asked, confused. Then before I could answer, he asked another question. He sure was talking a lot today. "Wait, do you even know what I am?"

"No," I answer. My mind went blank for ideas when I thought of anything passed superhumans.

His face grew pale. "That's not like you. You normally have some ideas."

I laughed and he seemed to grow paler. "Oh, I have ideas, just not creative ones. I'm not very creative."

He seemed almost satisfied with this answer, but didn't go on in his story. I rolled my eyes as I flipped through the magazine idly now, looking back at the culture of twenty five years or so ago.

"Go on, will you? So you were a politician of your race how long ago?"

Alexander brought his face down to look at mine, his blackened ruby eyes peering into my green. He seemed torn, but ultimately he shook his head, making his decision with a smile. "I wasn't a politician. I was involved with their. . .government, but I was more of a soldier. I tried to protect the peace more than anything but they slipped up. Often it seems where the Cullens are concerned."

"So the Cullens are bad," I jumped to the conclusion. "But not really. Well, what kind of crime could they have committed?"

Alexander winced. "I'm breaking one now," he murmured, probably thinking I couldn't hear him. I could though, and I felt a chill go down my spine while my stomach knotted uneasily. Keeping the secrecy, got it. "They had a. . .well a child."

It was my turn to blanch. "How can you misunderstand that? And how can you even make a law against that?"

Alexander was holding up his pale hand and shaking his head again. The smile was gone; translate, this was serious. He also looked extremely sad. "It was the wrong kind of child. We –"

I cut him off abruptly. "I'd rather not know what you are."

He blinked, confusion seeping through his well formed passive mask. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "Secrecy sake. And plus, I'm not that interested." Other people may have pushed the subject, but I could tell no one really wanted me to find out, so I didn't push it. I could just live off the idea that they were superhuman immortal things with their own set of laws. That's that.

And it most likely wasn't too far off the mark either. I was in the same ball park, that much was certain.

"Fine. We. . .shouldn't have children. They're volatile and unpredictable. They can't be controlled to. . ."

"Keep the secrecy order. Got it," I filled in. "But they did have a kid. Edward and Bella. There was a picture of her."

Remembering the little cherub that Jacob was looking at made me smile slightly. She was so sweet looking.

Alexander only nodded, and I filled it in again. So she was the child of their's, I was right, but she wasn't exactly like any of them. Why? How? When? She looked young in the picture, but she could have stopped aging or it could have been taken a while back and she had died or changed. Lots of possibilities and the only way to figure it out was to ask questions. You couldn't observe anything past this.

"The wrong kind of child. She wasn't as dangerous," Alexander repeated the basic information from the conversation.

So Alexander was also a soldier. Working for the military. That would explain why he was scary. I wondered if Jasper had worked in the military as well, although I don't see where his power would have come in handy. Just his size and strength, no doubt, would have given him the advantage over his adversaries.

Alexander could turn invisible. How did you fight something you couldn't see, unless you were lucky? Point taken.

"Why did you leave?"

"They were corrupt. Still are," he replied, his tone even and uncaring. He was leaning back in the chair again, arms hung back on the chair as he stared blankly at the ceiling.

Well, knowing this did make some sense. But not really. Then again, I didn't care as long as they left me alone. And if they didn't, I would ask questions.

Before I could get in one more question edgewise, I heard the door downstairs slam and my mother scream up to me to get downstairs.

--

My mother is such a pleasant person. I sometimes wonder why my dad left her in the first place. Oh, that's right. He's a child molester and would be rapist, but other than that he's a cool guy.

Pfft. As if.

My mom came home angry, but she was happy in a few minutes. She said that was just something left over from work and I could relax. Yeah, right. With monsters down the road.

She asked if I had met Dr. Cullen's kids at school, and I answered as politely as I could. I didn't really like my mom much; I mean I had to be there with her to protect her, but she was still choosing alcohol and boyfriends above me. There was nothing I could do against that, so I would stay as long as she needed me.

Right now, she needed me to make dinner.

As we were eating the spaghetti I had made, she talked about Dr. Cullen's first day of work and how handsome he was. If he was anything like his adoptive kids, I bet he was gorgeous. Also, how well he worked with people and took charge of bad situations that needed his attention. His work was astounding, and I could help but muttering 'I bet' when she said this. But she really didn't notice, and kept prattling on and on while I washed the dishes and she dried.

I didn't like using the dishwasher. If anyone was understanding my paranoia of other electronics, just figure it out for yourself.

I eventually pulled away from her saying I had to sleep before I dropped dead on my feet. My mom seemed to understand and I kissed her good night although it was only six something.

I was actually happy that my mom was pleased. It isn't everyday she comes home and wants to talk to me, so I listened openly to her. From what I could tell, she had a huge crush on the popular and already married Carlisle Cullen, but so did half of the ER and female staff. And again, I could see why, if he was anything like what I had seen.

The anger was from being asked to work Thanksgiving holiday this year, or no doubt some other stupid request from her hated boss. Or whoever was in charge there.

I fell asleep around eight thirty after rereading the newest issue of my Shojo Beat, totally content with myself now. Tomorrow would be much better than today, and I might just end up catching a ride home with the Cullens again. Even though they had gotten in trouble with the law, I'm sure they were decent, like Alexander was.

Every woe brought on from today was forgotten for that night, until I woke up and Alexander was no where to be found, that is. . .

(1) -_ Think the Grudge._

**(There's that. Hope it's long enough and I hope you enjoy. Just so you know, Eve knows nothing of the Cullens or the Volturi before now. Seriously. And she isn't spoiled, in case you were thinking about that when she was ranting about all that cool stuff she has. She's just hate filled from the past and paranoid. I swear. . .and the whole shadow thing will actually be part of the plot, so hold in there. I'll answer questions when I can, but please don't reply to them if you can. Smiles!)**


	4. Nightmares and Broken Dreams

**A/N: To start things off, I watched an amazing movie that isn't really for little kids this week. Devil's Advocate. Keaneu Reeves is in it. . .so it actually wasn't **_**that**_** amazing, but still. There was this **_**name**_** that kept being mentioned. If you've seen the movie, you might see where this is going. There was this guy named Alexander in it. And his last name was. . . –severe drum roll– CULLEN. I kept thinking, hm. . .that has a nice ring to it. –snicker–**

**A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out, again. Again, and again, I'm sorry. Hey, I'm still waiting, two months later, for an update from this AWESOME other fanfiction on here, so patience is key. Plus, school started and have I said these things were tedious to type? Yeah, and I have three different works to get done in a week, each week. One is a piece of crap this one is for my friends and involves all my personal characters like Eve and Alexander and Keith and Tom and. . ., another that's on here and isn't so long lengths actually vary for 'A Possible Happy Ending', and this one which needs a min. of 6,500 to make you and me happy. And for all of them, I do little editing work what so ever. But they are good, or so I'm told.**

**A/N: This chapter was inspired by 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' by Green Day. Excellent band in my opinion. It was neck and neck with another song, 'Story of a Girl' by some band whose name escapes my mind at this instance. While it's being said here, it's not the song to have in mind while reading this. Still a good song though. Thank you, and review.**

**A/N: By the way, I always seem to have problems when it comes to being clear in my writing. People always, always, ALWAYS tell me they're confused when they read something that seems crystal clear to me or to someone else. Let's face it, I spin long plots and I'm an amateur at it. Still, if you have anything other than confusion for this chapter, please tell me your opinions. I LOVE to hear them, even though I can only get on once a week now.**

**A/N: As for the 'shadow' confused reviews, let me explain better. If you understood perfectly the point I was trying to get across, then just skip this to the chapter Eve was merely ranting to herself, so I'm afraid she wasn't very clear. The 'shadows' are people who have left memorable impressions upon the world. In order to understand this, you need to understand that in this story the world has magnetic fields that record periods of change, but in life that includes people, plants, weather, and animals. These are what you would call ghosts, but on the contrary not all of them are dead. Trees and rocks record things of their own, for an example. Trees record periods of drought and their age with their rings as rocks record periods of physical life and change within layers-cough- fossils. The reasoning behind why Eve can see these things she isn't really the only one, but she is rare is because she's super observant to the things around her. She can **_**see**_** what others can't or fail to see on a daily basis. She is more. . .open with her mind than others are. Kind of like the confusing fact that Bella's brain runs on a different 'frequency' than everyone else's. Also, the shadows vary on strength, either magnetically or whatever. They can be 2-D trapped on walls or on the ground or 3-D. Eve thinks they can not change beyond what they are grow in strength or weaken and that they can not 'harm' or 'touch' living beings. Well, just to tip you off and spoil something, they can. You'll find Eve jumps to conclusions, like a computer jumping on the most obvious answer to a logic problem, and she can be wrong at times ie. The Cullens aren't human but she has no idea what they **_**are**_**. I hope that helped in any way possible. – mutters to self – I really need to learn how to get this across in my writing instead of me explaining it myself. . .**

**--**

**Chapter Three** - Nightmares and Broken Dreams

_'Can't any one of you see it?' Her voice rose to the ceiling, panic and fear setting in completely. She was backing away from something that kept coming for her, and no matter how many steps she took back, it kept getting nearer and nearer to its target. Her pale, slender hands, unmarked by ink in this dream scape, were thrown out in front of her._

_But I knew there was no protecting her from what was coming. The invisible menace that would tear her apart. Bring her to her knees, and then destroy her piece by piece._

_The main hall of the school was lined with leering children, all laughs and smiles as they watched the execution of the girl. A sheen of sweat was taking over her beautiful face, and her flaxen hair was plastered all around her face, wet from perspiration. Wild emerald eyes darted around the room, frantic and desperate in their search for help._

_We all knew how it ended. It would end badly. Sure, Eve would lie. . .she would say I was the hero in the end and I saved her. Her pulse told me she was lying. There was no hero at the end of this nightmare. There was no happy ending, or quite frankly any end to the nightmare at all._

_Right before the incubus would have ended, the body would awaken and it would be banished away with comforting words. Soothing and quiet words to quiet the screams._

_Or I wish that would be true. In reality, I would awaken to nothingness. An empty bed all alone in the world._

_I had to watch myself getting stalked by another me. An alter-ego of me. The other me had her face twisted in a smile of rage, sorrow, and insanity, and her eyes were a brilliant red. Fingers, long and narrow, were curved into talons and claws, ready to rip apart both mine and the girl's flesh. Rend the elastic covering from rich calcium filled bones._

_All the while the children laughed, egging the thing on. 'Someone help me,' the girl screeched, taking another faltering step back. Tears were streaming from her eyes, and she took another step and fell down with a sob._

_The alter us was on her in a minute, and although I couldn't feel the skin being torn from the body, ripped away by sylphlike fingers, I could see it happening right in front of me._

_It's one of those dreams you have when you have to watch yourself go through the motions, unable to change the outcome of events no matter how much they vary. You are the spectator to your own doom on dream scape. . ._

I tapped my fingers impatiently against the desk, my eyes trained on the clock. Just another minute or so to go and I could get the hell out of this place.

Alexander wasn't there when I woke up. I knew he wasn't there before I woke up either, just because of that stupid dream I had. I only get the dream when he leaves, and by now he was normally lurking behind me in the halls and whatnot. No. Not this time.

And on top of Alexander leaving for no apparent reason, the Cullens wouldn't talk to me. They sat around at lunch, looking at everything but themselves or me, keeping fully quiet. Edward offered no odd smiles at any of my random thoughts, most thrown in for his sake just to annoy him or ask him something. Bella didn't say anything to me all day, although she looked worried and pained whenever I saw her, like she was fighting against her mouth and her brain and her heart; I knew she wanted to say something but the fact remained that she didn't. Not in a single one of my classes. Jasper helped keep the mood calm in that weird way of his, and I very much wanted to hate him for it because what I was feeling was not how I wanted to feel.

I wanted to feel frightened without Alexander. I wanted to worry about his well being. But I couldn't. Instead, I felt relaxed and calm and out of character, thinking that Alexander didn't matter much to me at all and he would come back soon.

Alice didn't reveal anything more about herself either, like how she knew the weather or knew when to send their siblings away because I would be riding home with them. But she seemed more on edge than Bella was, giving quick glances to Edward and then rolling her eyes and fidgeting. She wanted more than ever to tell me what was on _her_ mind.

Amazing. This day was truly freaking amazing.

And it was two minutes. . .one minute from being almost over. Because the day actually didn't end for me until I was at home, lying peacefully in my bed with the blinds drawn and the covers thrown up over my head. Hiding made me feel better, like a turtle hides in the face of danger.

On that note, what else can a turtle do but get eaten alive by the dingo or wolf? I mean, it can't _run_ can it? It only has one defense, and in my opinion that defense seems to be working just fine.

I'm not so sure the same defensive rule applies for human however. Is it really right to just hide away from the world and your problems, hoping and wishing something out of your control will change. Impossible. And yet, all I could do was worry about Alexander.

He couldn't have left for a very important reason. His eyes, when I last saw them, were dark, true, but not dark enough to send him on his way of whatever he does. Every time Alexander had left before now, he had done so in the middle of the night and was back before the middle of the day, excluding that one exception from the library incident. I normally knew when he had to leave because his eyes would go pitch black and the next day he would be gone, only to return with blood rubies for eyes.

The cycle goes on and off from there. Another possibility that makes sense would be if Alexander simply ran away from the Cullens. Still, that doesn't make much sense either. He said he had left his 'family' when the Cullens had appeared, and I'm thinking it was because they showed him just how corrupt they really were. So he had no place to go except back to roaming the streets like when I first met him.

Other than that, the others could have killed him. Could have killed him because he would turn them in for some misdemeanor charge or something stupid like that and his body was now floating down the Susquehanna River.

Option three seemed a little too irrational, even for me. I didn't place the Cullens down as the murdering type, although I still hadn't caught of glimpse of Emmett, the envy of all men, and Rosalie, the envy of all human beauty.

Then again, brawn and stunning beauty didn't matter when you had a large mass of numbers on top of it all.

The bell rang finally, three consecutive dings, and everyone stood up as one and rushed for the door. Me. . .well I could afford to waste my time some what. I didn't have to stop at my locker, for one, and my mom had off today just in case. I gathered my reading material and pencil, my things, throwing them into my shoulder bag.

I was on my way out the door when Bella's voice stopped me. I turned in time to see her pocketing her cell phone, and the look she wore was one of nervousness. The crease in her forehead was really apparent, and she was chewing softly on her lip as if to intensify the nervous energy being released from her. "Eve. Um. . .was your nightmare really bad last night?"

I paused, then froze, then tried to relax unsuccessfully, and then I just answered truthfully. "It was the same as the others. How did you know about–?"

Bella rushed past me before I could get my question out, but turned once in the hall. "Are you riding home with us?" She actually sounded hopeful, and the nervous shell about her body cracked slightly, but I shook my head.

The main reason was because I was not going home alone with a bunch of strangers with whom I knew weren't human and had just met. The second part of my reasoning was a bit more subtle, but still important. I didn't need the ride rather, and I could just get on the bus without any hassle.

"No thanks," I sighed, shouldering my bag and waving good bye to her. At least she had said _something_ to me today. I made it out to the busses successfully as well, without much interference from the people around me.

The weather for the day was rainy, grey and overcast. One hundred percent dreary. People were wearing hoods to keep off the drizzle that fell from the over ripe, bruised clouds that hung poised above the world. Yesterday's rain had come as a surprise to the weather casters because the computer that tracked the storms normally, had not said anything about rain clouds in the area.

I think people are just afraid to say that the perfect storm tracking computer had a slight margin of error. That's a fancy way of saying it was imperfect and mistakes do occur. If the machines are imperfect, which makes sense since they're made by imperfect beings, then the world always has that unsafe margin of error that can go wrong. The world isn't comfortable and safe when there's the slight possibility that things don't go according to plan.

On the bus I chose to sit at the very back and turn up my iPod all the way it could go. I was surprised when someone chose to sit back with me, but I didn't object and moved over closer to the window. I gave her a quick one over and placed her as the one girl in my gym class. Her name was Jennifer and she seemed nice enough.

But her image was, to say in the least, downplaying. If anyone thought Brandi as a bad looking girl, then this girl made Brandi look like a freaking nun. And a nun looked like God compared to Jen.

She wore a sleeveless, strapless hot pink top with black designs running up the left side. She wasn't dressed for the weather obviously because she was wearing torn up short shorts that looked painted onto her body they were so tight. White threads were torn off the hems of the jeans and they contrasted greatly to her flawless tanned skin that seemed to glow even in this dim of light. Her hair was so it was boy-short in the back, but then grew longer by the front and it was a dyed deep burgundy color.

Her face was pretty, but you could hardly tell since she was wearing too much makeup. Jen was also pretty short, and I stood over her by at least a foot or so.

She smiled when she caught eyes with me, and said hello before I could turn back to gazing out the window. "You're Eve, right?"

Jen's voice was like candy. Cotton candy. Light and laughter contagious, like a yawn that spread goodness and pep wherever it was heard. Eve blinked. "Yes. I'm in your gym," I explained, turning back to the window finally.

The rain was starting to come down harder and drops were rolling down the pane in irregular interlinking paths. Like the different paths of life that you can take and cross paths with other people.

"That's right. You look very pretty," she beamed, almost bouncing in the seat. I think she was restraining herself from doing so. "It's also a beautiful day. Following the elections much? I wonder if the rain will cancel the speeches they have planned."

I blinked, closing my eyes for longer than a second needed, then turned to face her. She said I looked pretty. No one even bothers talking to me, letting alone telling me I'm pretty. Then again, Jen was a newcomer here and probably hadn't heard any of the rumors circulating around me. Better live it up now before she became a complete and total bitch to me. "Thanks. You look spiffy yourself." As for the elections. . . "And I haven't really been watching them, no. No one will ever have the same views as me, so what's the point? Not voting is voting to me."

They were all greedy bastards anyway. Who cares if one of them was a woman. She was still annoying as hell and was way too much of a liberal and investor in technology in my opinion. I think she had a holographic child which was too much for my comfort level to withhold.

"That's a shame. But I guess you have a point." She paused, then continued. "Did you have a nice day today? I didn't see you get on the bus yesterday."

Those two things were so random and had nothing to do with the other, I didn't know how to address either of them. Jennifer must have had a small case of ADD. "I missed the bus yesterday, so I guess I'm having a better day than yesterday."

And I was. If Alexander had been here, and if Bella hadn't freaked me out with the whole 'dream' question, today most likely would have been the best of my too long school year.

"First day of school always bites." Jen leaned forward to look out the window, and I looked out with her. It wasn't like you could make out anything past the rain, which was pouring down now. The clouds had chosen a perfect time to dump their water packages; just as we were getting out of school.

I was still looking out the window when Jen started talking again. "I'm in eleventh grade, and I don't think I've caught which grade you're in, sorry."

"Tenth," I answered automatically, drawn in my the rain drops hitting the window. Rain was so pretty, and for a slight and brief moment I was happy to be living where I am. Where the sun hardly ever shines and the clouds turn the world to colorless ash.

People say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but I personally think that days like this was nature at it's most beautiful, weather wise. Now throw in some lightning and rolling thunder and you got yourself a symphony of sounds and sights that would rival an artist's masterpiece or composition.

"Got through ninth grade I see. Hey, I don't mean to be rude, but if I am you don't have to answer this." I'm already answering all your other questions, so what was the worse that she could say? "Why does everyone call you Ghost? I mean, Eve is such a pretty name I don't know why you would want something weird like that."

I finally turned to look at her full in the face. "Why don't you ask them why they call me that, and then get back to me on it?" I knew why they called me what they did, but I personally didn't care anymore. I had so much bigger things to worry about.

The bus was slowing in momentum, and I threw a quick look to the window. This stop was new on the route. "Well, that sucks. Eve, I'll see you tomorrow." Jen waved, giving me a small smile as she stood and made her way down the aisle and off the bus.

When the bus started to pull away, I heard some of the younger boys in front of me snicker. "Ooooh! Eve's got herself an actual friend to talk to now. Maybe she can dump whatshername and get a real fing life."

Ha ha. Real funny. How twisted the rumor was about me, they were calling Alexander a girl. Sometimes, I wished the people who made fun of me had more than two brain cells to function with.

I didn't bother listening to anything else anyone had to say, so I blasted my ears out with music. I felt so lonely without Alexander lurking somewhere near my side. So vulnerable. Looking out the window, I couldn't help but wonder where he was now. What was he doing? Why was he doing it? Why the hell had he left at this time, and not come back by now?

Eventually the bus screeched to a stop outside my driveway, and I eased myself down the aisle that was free of limbs and feet. I was the last stop always, and the first stop in the morning. I'm not sure if it rocked to live so far away from the school and people I knew, or if it just plain out sucked.

The rain had slowed a bit by the time the bus reached my home, so I endured the wetness for a few seconds before I was under the protection of my porch roof. I tried the door handle to find it locked, tight and secure, and I sighed when the beep sounded at my touch.

My mom was definitely home. In the morning I was the last to leave, so I never bothered with the alarm and security system and chose just to lock it. When my mom was in charge of the damn thing, even when she was at home and could manage it all herself, she had to have the security turned on.

"Eve. Now let me in dammit." The last part was for added measure, although the system just needed voice configuration to accept that it was me. While it read the matching vocal pattern on its hard drive, just to make sure the vocal patterns were identical, it also could read the amounts of stress put into my voice to read what kind of mood I was in. If the stress level was too high, it wouldn't let me in, figuring I was being held at knife or gun point to say something.

The feature was only added when my mom watched some lame cop show where some guy broke into a house by using the owner of the house as the key. The moral of that episode was that you needed a five hundred dollar upgrade to your system in order to be truly safe. Because that kind of thing happens to everyone.

The door clicked two seconds later, and swung open to let me in. On top of the outer security installed, there was an inner working to the house that I normally had shut down for the sake of my sanity. A feature of the house was to have a holographic customizable bust follow you around and offer assistance or just someone to talk to. That's a feature in most wealthy houses across America.

And there waiting at the now opened door, like I knew it would be, was the floating bust. The hologram was projected from the sensors which were found in every corner of the room. It was a shimmery pale blue that hovered about eye level to you. It was customizable, but ours was still in its default mode which was a neutral looking female with her pale hair thrown up over her shoulder.

"Having a nice day so far Miss Eve?"

"Maybe," I muttered, walking through the hologram and up the stairs to my room.

The thing was there already, probably in every single room of the house, waiting for me. It seemed expectant. "You're stress and hormone levels are reaching remarkable new grades today Miss Eve. I suggest you relax."

This thing was so being shut down before I fell asleep. Nothing like trying to sleep with a hologram computer hanging over you, checking your stress levels and making suggestions for you. Subliminal messaging while you slept.

I swear, I'm not paranoid, these things are just creepy.

I dropped my bag to the floor and then went to go do my daily routine. Well, my daily routine when Alexander wasn't really looking. With him not here now, I might as well take advantage of it all. Besides, stats don't really lie. I was feeling stressed out, with what Bella knowing I had nightmares and all of that. Had I been thinking excessively of that all day? So much so Edward had overheard and blabbed over to his family about me?

I shuddered to think of it, so I tried not to.

But it was really always there, in the back of my mind.

--

I lowered myself deeper into the bubbles, blowing a few away so I could breath without getting the suds up my nose. I felt so nice to just relax in warm water, that I thought nothing of breathing until the moment I had done just that. I snorted, trying to clear my airways, when my mom knocked on the door.

"Honey? You haven't drowned yet, have you?" There was concern in her voice, and I felt my heart pang because I didn't return the sentiments.

I cleared my throat so I could reply. "Nope."

The pang left immediately. "Darn. Can't get the insurance money yet." I was pretty sure this was a joke, and yet the tone didn't _sound_ like a joke. I sunk lower into the bubbles, closing my eyes.

I was lying in my bathtub as I had been for the past hour or so. I had honestly lost track of the time reading a book about a weird vampire who ate food because he hated what he was until he met a girl who was attending his school. It was a continuum in some series by a lady named Terra Smithson.

She was still churning out books, had been since she was in high school, but she was older now for sure. Her books made a little more sense than that of her earlier novels, but I still enjoyed reading about her silly and insane characters as they tried to fix the problems of their somewhat perfect world.

It was like Terry Pratchett novels, only with more romance thrown in. Just to compare.

The book was interesting, and I wasn't quite done yet, but I hoped to be soon. I had to learn what happened to the spunky, music loving, vampire hunter girl who reminded me so much of myself that it was uncanny.1

You can't spend all day reading books though, so I forced myself to stop. They were like drugs, to put it simply. You put off homework, eating, and even sleep just to get lost in a good book. It made you feel better when you felt so horrible. And then you could talk to people about them and you had something in common with this person who you've never seen before in your life. The internet was a wonderful thing.

I sat up abruptly when there was a loud pounding on the front door. The heated water sloshed around the tub, missing by near inches my book. I glared at the water level, daring it to touch even a page of that book, before I carefully stood and wrapped a towel around me.

My mom knocked on the door again, and I rolled my eyes. I could only nab an hour to myself, huh? Well, that was better than what some people could get. I opened it a crack, hating the cold air that rushed forward to meet the warmth I had staved away in the bathroom. "Yeah?"

"Honey, I hate to tell you this," she started talking and I tuned her out. Every time she started a conversation with that line, she never seemed to hate telling me that she was going out with such and such to someplace I've heard of too many times. You know, that little pizza place in that little town, just outside of this shopping complex? Yeah, that's the one, with the Italian name. Well such and such is taking me to that place, so I'll see you later. Eating dinner on your own tonight. Love ya!

And I knew, from the bottom of my heart, that she wished I was gone. Really, honestly, and truly wished that I wasn't a hassle. That perhaps, I had a boy friend of my own or was distracted with something other than sports.

Which reminded me; I had practice tomorrow and a game coming up for volleyball. Then there were track sign ups to think about that were fast approaching as well.

But other than sports, I'm assuming she thought I was in the house too much and too often. There was no alone time for her and her apathetic boy friends (eventually I'll have to touch upon them, but for now just imagine the worst possible marriage candidate and you're there).

I shut the door while she ran downstairs to answer her call and leave me alone. I couldn't help but think about yesterday when mom had actually engaged me in conversation. Most of it was about herself, but at least we were connecting on some parent-child basis.

I slid back into the bath, steam rising from the water, the heaters just under the surface of the tub glowing red as they did their job. I sighed, letting the water relax my already too tensed muscles. I leaned my head against the lip of the tub, and then fully settled in.

Sometime later I woke up, my mind in a haze, the home security hologram hovering over me. I shrieked, splashing water everywhere and the hologram dissipated only to reappear a few feet away from the tub. It looked upset over something, but I was just pissed that it had woken me.

The tub in the water drained slowly as I rescued my dampened book from the perilous edge, and dried myself off. In response to how late it was, my stomach growled and I went down the curvy stairs in search of food. I was sure my mother wouldn't have left anything out for me. I was right.

"Report on house, please," I said to the hologram, my mood seeping into my tone.

It was hovering over my shoulder, watching as I fluffed out my hair with a towel, then let the towel drape over a chair as I head into the kitchen. "The room temperature is sixty-two degrees Fahrenheit. The time is eight, forty-two p.m. Total missed calls, two. Alarm was not triggered during your nap, Miss Eve. Shall I prepare your bed as well?"

Preparing my bed meant that it would be nice and cozy warm when I hopped into it later, since in the mattress itself there was a heating system, much like the one in the bath. It helped keep you really warm on cold late nights.

"Yes, please." Why not use the services while I had them? As appalling as it was to me, the idea of relying on something so eerie, it was rather convenient I guess. But I was curious... "More on the missed calls."

"Yes. The first was made at six, fifty-seven p.m. from your father. Play message?"

"Play," I sighed. I had been expecting this.

My father's tired voice filled the room then, much like the hologram's voice did except its was more centered on the image while the recorded message just sounded. "'_Eve, I won't be able to make it to your birthday party. I have a meeting that day, over in Japan. I know you like it there, so I'll pick you up something nice while I'm there and I'll ship it to you. It should get there within the day or two. Love ya'. Goodbye._' Reply?"

"No." My tone was curt. Although I had been expecting him to completely bail out at the last minute, these kinds of things always hurt. I guess if you couldn't rely on your mother to be there for you, dad was no exception. Especially when you knew he thought of you as more than a daughter. "Next message," I snapped, grabbing a can of soup from the closet. New England Clam Chowder.

The hologram answered while I opened the can and poured the soup into a bowl. "Message number two was received at seven, forty-three p.m. by private. Play message?"

"Give the number." I knew a couple private numbers by heart. It could have been my father's office phone, or his office cell phone. The system didn't quite pick up on those numbers, but my brain could.

The numbers were rattled off, but they were new to me. "Is there a location for the message?" I asked, confused now.

I placed the bowl in the microwave and shut the door, about to punch the option for soup in when the system took over and did it for me.

While the soup cooked, a low hum in the background, the hologram answered. "Location undisclosed. Number is private."

Person was going through a lot to call and not be recognized. The system was blocked both ways. Only the insanely rich and powerful could extend to that kind of privacy. Probably one of dad's partners who thought he would be coming home for the weekend. Just one more thing to check. "Cell or home phone?"

I started walking up the stairs, intent on dressing myself, but I had to grab the towel first. "Undisclosed. I am sorry. Should I play the message now?"

I blinked, my hand halfway to reaching the towel. The system had never been blocked from that information. It could tell whether the line was through the ground or given by a satellite. The differences were obvious to it. So what did that mean? This person didn't want anyone to know what phone they were using? Paranoia swept me and I hurried up the stairs to the bathroom, towel in hand.

"Play the message," I nearly screamed when I was prompted the question again. Now Alice's cool voice played in the background, and I think my legs nearly gave out.

"_'Hello Eve. Not sure we've introduced ourselves formally - Edward stop, go away - but this is Alice Cullen. You're going to take this well, so I decided to drop you a line. I was wondering if you had anything planned this weekend - yes I know she doesn't, her father cancelled - and I thought you might like to go shopping somewhere. Just a girl thing. You can bring anyone you want, but I was just offering the option if you'd like. I'll see you in school Friday. Give me a call back when you've decided.'_ End of message. Reply?"

I was still in shock. She called this 'handling it well'? And how did she know all that anyway?

The weather forecast shot into my head again, and I was whirring away with ideas. Maybe it was obvious that it was going to rain. Maybe she just knew my father or had somehow hacked the pitiful system and heard the message.

But it seemed less clear than that. Something I wasn't expecting, but it wouldn't surprise me if I learned the truth. "Reply?" the hologram repeated again.

I ground my teeth together. If I told my mom she was going to have to make other plans for my birthday, dad wasn't coming after all, and I was going to be out of the house all day, then she'd smile and tell me to have a good time. However, if I said I hated my life and my rotten luck, dad wasn't coming, and I would be locked in my room all day, she would probably grab the phone and _force_ someone to take me somewhere. Pay a freaking driver to -

The phone rang, making me jump. My towel slipped, and I forced it back up around my chest. Who would be calling around now? And just when I was about to call Alice back too and...accept? I was about to accept her invite, wasn't I?

"Pick up the damn phone already," I snapped, storming to my room. I was just about spent with this day and all its lonesome glory.

Alice was there in my head again, and for a moment I thought the system had just replayed the message. But she was engaging me in conversation, not speaking into a machine. "Hey. Glad you could make it, now I'll pick you up at around -"

I heard someone the in background laugh. It was a pleasant, boisterous sound, deep. "Give her a chance to speak Alice. Sheesh." I couldn't put the voice to a face.

"Shut up Emmett, I'm on the phone," Alice snapped, holding the phone away from her face but still sounding close enough to hurt my ears.

What?

What was going on here? I had just made my decision to call Alice and here she was calling. . .

It all fell into place. "How'd you get this number?"

Alice took a breath. "You're in the phone book."

I rather didn't care if she was lying. I could always check the book later. But I either didn't say anything now and forever hold my peace, or I just blurted what I thought out - "Physic. You see the future, don't you?" - like I knew I would have.

"Of course. But I can't see what you're going to do this weekend unless you make a decision to actually do something. I just saw you calling me back." I could hear the smile on her face. Hear it. Touch it. It was tangible in the air.

The phone system of our house doesn't need a portable or a cell to listen in to. All I needed to do was talk. If I spoke it, she would hear it. It was convenient in that it could be limited to one room and could hold multiple lines at once. Otherwise, I found it a bit odd, like I was talking to the house that could reply back.

And yet, annoying as it all was, I was touched. Someone, who I had just met and who had ignored me all freaking day, was inviting me out to a birthday whatever. Forget that they weren't human; they had more heart than some humans I knew. Either that, or they were cruel and ill intentioned . I couldn't see Bella being cruel intentioned though. I doubted the second thought.

"Well, I don't know. I've never really done anything for my birthday before," I admitted. I wasn't exactly fishing for comments, although it sounded like it to me once I said it, but it was the truth.

Sure, my dad gave me presents as did my mom, and Alexander always smiled and wished me a happy birthday, but I never really had a party or anything. Not in the longest while. It would be so nice to just have some cake or celebrate with one other person. . .

"Settled then," Alice chirped into the phone, all aglow. "Not sure if you'd invite anyone else, but be here at three." Then the phone clicked off.

"The call has ended. You're bed is approximately seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit. Anything else I can get you tonight, Miss Eve?" The hologram's voice kicked in after the call had ended.

I stood there in my damp towel, thinking it over. "No. Shut down."

"Should I keep security protocol up and running?"

"No. Lock the doors, windows, and keep cameras up. If someone should come to the door, open it." Doubted my mother would even come home at this point. "Then tell me about it in the morning."

I smirked. Let the thing presume I would wake it up in the morning. If it was lucky, mother would get the systems up and running two days from now.

As I dressed, I thought over the conversation I had just had with Alice. Of all things to end this miserable and lonely day, I had to get a phone call from her. About my own birthday party. This joy I held overshadowed the fact that my father had cancelled on me again and was probably going to get me some stupid geisha dress to add to my growing collection, and my mother still cared more about other men than her daughter. Although it overshadowed those bad things, one thing was barely covered.

Alexander was still missing. He should have come home by now. No doubt the Cullens appearing had something to do with it, but how could they be evil or dark hearted? How could they have possibly hurt him? Edward seemed annoying with the whole mind thing, and granted they were all a little scary, but weren't they people? In a way.

In the slightest of ways.

When I was dressed for bed, wearing a thin black strapless shirt that covered only my chest and a pair of old sweats, I danced downstairs and started to eat my soup. The house was oddly quiet, most of the electrical equipment turned off for the night. It did so to conserve the solar energy the house somehow managed to grab on sunny days.

And while I ate in silence, the conversation drifted in and out of my mind. What a wonderful thing to have happen.

But. . .had Alice said she would see my on Friday? I checked the date in my head. Today was Wednesday. Where would she be on Thursday? Maybe it was a holiday I was missing out on or something. Maybe that's where Alexander was, if the Cullens were going to be disappearing as well.

So I shrugged it off. Seriously, I was too elated to care about anything anymore.

I felt it before I heard it. The creeping feeling that something was standing right behind me, and if I turned my head slightly I could see it, but turn it all the way and it was gone. A prickling feeling came over the back of my neck and I nearly gagged on my soup. It burned my throat on the way down, lingering longer than I would have thought necessary.

**Good girl. Be happy, Eve dearest. Find joy so I can be born in Misery. Smile, and give me life, little Eve. Give me life so I can loathe you.**

I think the blood in my veins ran like ice in that second after the voice had faded. The feeling of being stalked had gone with the fading, hissing noise that could not be known other than a whisper. A ghost of a whisper.

I whirled in my seat, knowing I wouldn't see anything standing there. And indeed there wasn't. "Computer systems on," I said, my voice sounding strangely off and small.

The house clicked on, humming to life. "Yes, Miss. . .what is wrong? Your levels of -"

"Could you run a recording of what happened in this room for the past minute?"

The hologram appeared in front of me, across of the table as I turned around, back to the soup I no longer wished to eat. Her default face was worried. Worried, I guessed, for me. Whatever levels and some chemical I was giving off, it couldn't be good.

"Doing so," she complied. I heard the snap of the system turning back time to get to the recording. As a protocol, all rooms were required, by law, to have listening devices. They didn't link anywhere, they just recorded things up until two months. A minute shouldn't be any problem for it.

On the sound byte I could hear myself moving around, shifting slightly. Then the sound seemed to pop, and I could make out the sound of me gagging on soup. But there was no voice.

Maybe I was a complete schizo. Maybe I did need a therapist and some medication.

"Something seems to be interfering with the recording device. Magnetic difference perhaps. I am truly sorry Miss. Is there anything at all that I can do to alleviate your concern?"

Anything I can do to alleviate yours?

"No, thank you. Could you stay operational tonight?" Not sure what changed my mind about this, but suddenly having something that you _thought_ could turn on you but knew wouldn't, was different than having something hanging over you with malcontent.

Maybe this was just a stupid trick played on me by the Cullens. Maybe I was the butt of some joke.

Or maybe this was a bit more than that. "Certainly, ma'am," the system replied, cheered that it was needed, finally, by me.

"Good. Now play CD five, track three for me please?" I tried to spoon some of the soup into my mouth, but after I winced around it in my damaged throat, I realized I would get no where tonight with this meal.

In the back ground, the music started and I had no choice but to try and settle in for a long night. . .

--

_(1) - I have to explain. Eve and Alexander are my own characters, so this is her referring to where I got the idea for them from. I can't say the story plot got justice here, but I was so __**trying **__to sell it there. Sorry._

**A/N: I saw HBO's True Blood tonight. It was. . .interesting. Can't say you should watch it with young children or if you are a young child. I had to previous the channel a couple of times it got really bad. But it's kind of just like Twilight I think. And I think that's why my Dad let me watch it. I have no idea, but it is interesting, honestly. She reads minds, but can't read his. Cute in a way.**


	5. Only Lonely Little Old Me

**A/N: Sheesh. Finding time to write these are taxing. I had the first half of this chapter done, then scrapped it because I randomly wrote Eve getting in a fight and -shudder-, ugh it just felt wrong. SOOO I started over and here is the final result. I'm also dealing with a rather unsightly stalker of my own, so not only have I not been sleeping well but I haven't felt like writing for fear he'll find whatever I write and. . .well. . .what do stalkers do anyway? Lurk? Build shrines? Murder?? -hides-**

**A/N: I love my reviews. I really do. So keep on reviewing because you guys rock my socks. And of course all of the Cullens will play a part in this. This is a fanfiction involving at least some of them, right? Nessie is going to play some heartstrings as well. She's older now, so she's a bit more adult all while she's adorable to the human eyes. However, I've played with the idea of. . .well, Eve having a child and I figured I just can't do that to myself. Sorry for that spoiler, but oh well. -snicker-**

**A/N: GO READ MIDNIGHT SUN ON MEYER'S OFFICIAL SITE. I know it's up there for a bad reason, but it's still awesome nonetheless.**

**A/N: Also, if you're mature enough for it, watch HBO's True Blood airing every Sunday night at nine. It's flipping amazing if you love old fashioned romance/mystery stories. I can tell you that I squirmed way too many times in episode two, just because he asks her 'When may I call on you'. AMAZING.**

**A/N: Finally, this chapter is inspired from me to you by the Nine Inch Nails song 'Only'. The music video is probably one of the better ones I've seen of their's. It was a tie between this or 'Closer' but I figured 'Only' would be more. . .appropriate. Thank you for your hits and reads; I enjoy logging on at school and watching the numbers climb. My classmates thank you as well. -sarcasm-**

**Chapter Four -  
Only Lonely, Little Old Me**

"That new kid won't stop looking at you," Jen giggled into my ear.

The school was having a fire drill, but because of the rain outside they had thrown us all into the second planned place; the fire proofed gym building.

I had chosen to sit on the floor instead of on the bleachers, just so I could recline on the floors instead of sitting on the rickety bleachers for half an hour. Jen had decided to join me. I didn't really mind.

"Creepy," I murmured, looking everywhere but where Jen was pointing with her eyes. I didn't need another creepy stalking thing in my life, thank you very much.

My sleep had been skimpier of late, disrupted by nightmares and random voices. The shadow I had seen in school had decided to follow me home and scare the day lights out of me when I woke up today. It had grown more and more upset with every minute I spent alone. The thing, whatever or whoever it was, wanted me to be happy so it could hate me.

It also spoke to me. It spoke to me every day and practically begged, pleaded with me, to be happy. I still don't quite understand why, but there's no way, in my current state of mind, that I'm going to get happy.

Mother dearest left me a note saying that she was staying with her current boyfriend, Jonathon. The very one who took her out to dinner Wednesday night. I didn't know when she was coming back or in what condition she would be in when she came back to me. So far, she had been gone Wednesday night, I hadn't seen her all day Thursday, and this morning the house was quiet when I awoke. I think she made Thursday the most lonely day of my life. So far at least.

Today was still shaping up to be a quite miserable day.

Yesterday the sun was shining and I had actually hoped that it might have meant something. Something, perhaps, along the lines of happiness or rebirth or potential for a better life. At least the potential for a better day. I was horribly wrong. Today the clouds were black and swollen with rain and I felt better than I did with the rare and shiny sun.

Alexander was gone and/or dead from my life. The Cullens had left me all alone yesterday and I had been the name on everyone's lips. People couldn't stop talking about how I looked so depressed, or why the Cullens had decided to hang around with me at lunch. I didn't have a mother at home until Lord knows when, and I had I mentioned I was being stalked by something I couldn't see half the time it was there, that also wanted to hate me when I became happy?

I'm the luckiest person ever. I've been quoted on that.

So now pardon me, Jen, if I didn't feel like squealing at the prospect of a hormonal teenaged boy panting down my neck because he hadn't yet heard the rumors about me and thought he had a chance with someone like me. It wasn't like I had dressed to impress anyone like him anyway.

I had dressed to hide my arms and wrists, specially for today.

I've been cutting myself open since I was ten, and Alexander had let me do it. I normally do the morbid act when he isn't around to stop me to begin with. It's how I cope with inner pain when I don't have Alexander to talk to and when crying just doesn't work. It may sound sick, but I feel better with a physical pain that I can control and handle, instead of working out the complicated inner workings that result from events I can't manage. Also, when you're lightheaded from loss of blood, it's really hard to remember just why you were crying and feeling miserable moments ago.

People say that it's sick to do and I should stop, but who listens beside Alexander? Most grown ups in my life have either tried to rape me or think I'm just craving attention. And believe me when I say attention is the least thing I want in my life. Attention just means you have people looking at you, wanting you, and thinking about you. Attention is a horrible thing to crave, if you ask me.

I'm involved in sports, and I keep a diary when I want. Nothing helps more than controlling the pain myself, other than talking things over with Alexander. Without him, I'd probably be dead on top of all of this.

I pulled the sleeves of my loose knit grey sweater up and over my fingers, subconsciously trying to hide the mess of my skin I left last night.

Out of the corner of my vision I saw Edward Cullen, sitting alone with Bella high atop the bleachers, wince and I turned my head to glare at him. With angry thoughts, I tried to get the point across that I hadn't told anyone anything about my 'problem', nor have I let anyone see what I do. Utter a single word and I'll blab to everyone who will listen until you either make me stop or you leave for your own safety. Edward tensed and Bella looked to him, obviously concerned now. She followed his gaze to me but didn't seem to make any connections between us. Or I'll just egg your house when you are not there until I'm satisfied, I finished, looking away to him and to the ceiling.

Still, in that second that I'm looking away, Edward flashed a smile. Underestimating my threats isn't the smartest thing a person could do, but it's his mistake. I'll be the one smiling when he has to hose the egg yolks off his home and I'm all comfy in my living room with popcorn.

Jen had said something while I was getting carried away with the very tangible fantasy of eggs being thrown onto the Cullen's new house.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, turning back to Jen. It wasn't nice to put my own mindful desires above hers.

Jen repeated herself, but she looked visibly agitated that I hadn't been looking. How many times had she reiterated herself now? "He's sitting next to Rosalie Hale and he doesn't even give her a side-glance. I don't think that's creepy at all. In fact, I think that's flattering," Jen muttered, ducking her head so her short hair fell over her face.

Oh. She was still talking about the new kid. Nothing I was concerned about then.

I'd assumed Jen hadn't had any difficulty getting the men she wanted in her life to hang around with her. I hadn't had any problems with that either, but they were actually rather unwanted and I wanted them out of my life.

Nothing against her, of course, it's just me. The only men I ever knew had lusted after me in ways I was too young to comprehend, or there was Alexander who just up and left when I needed him the most.

Pfft. Yeah, who needs men anyway?

"How is that flattering? How pretty can this girl be?" I asked, referring to Rosalie. I still hadn't seen her, but people spoke of her and Emmet in hushed whispers.

I, personally, couldn't see the big deal. Then again, no one understood that these things weren't human and they were allowed to be extraordinary in appearance. "Where are they anyway?" I asked.

Jen turned her head away from me, indignant. "Well, I'll tell you they aren't on the ceiling," she scoffed. I lowered my head so I was looking forward to the mass of people sitting above us. True, they weren't on the ceiling, but I wasn't really looking for them. The only person I recognized on the bleachers was Edward and he was with Bella, alone up in the corner. Nothing suspicious there at all. Nope. "He's right there. Just a little off to our left and then . . . well he's practically right in front of you." Jen was pointing to where this guy was, and I turned my head to see when the bell rang, announcing that the drill was over.

Simultaneously, people started to stand and pick themselves up. Instead of seeing just whom this admirer was of mine, all I got to see was bodies and legs. "Oh shame and waily," I sighed in genuine regret. I got to my own feet as Jen stood up next to me.

"I can't believe you couldn't see him. On a scale of one to ten, this guy is a definite eight. And that's high, considering I haven't seen him without clothes yet." The girl was rough when it came to classifying guys. Like they were cattle and they deserved ribbons if they looked nice enough; for the record, appearance isn't everything. Neither is size, I'm told. "Supposedly he's a relation to Dr. Carlisle, a nephew or something, and they're taking him because his home country is one of those in Europe that is fighting right now."

"Great Britain," I guessed, looking to the ceiling. I jammed my hands into my pockets and tilted back my head as we were standing, and I figured this was the safest place as any to look with hopes of not making eye contact with anyone.

"Yeah," Jen exclaims, getting all excited now. "That's the one. He's British, and he looks it too." It was really only a matter of time before we were sucked into this war as well. Sucks that he was uprooted from his home. But aren't most young men going off to war at this point? Maybe this kid's parents wanted him some place safer, with inhuman relatives . . .

"Does he look anything like the Cullens?" I had to ask, out of curiosity. His parents wouldn't send him to stay with monsters if they knew about it.

Jen thought about this for a bit, then nodded. "Yeah. He kind of looks like Edward I guess, but he strongly resembles Carlisle. He's got the same kind of pale skin and gorgeous features. And his neck. His neck is slender, like he's built for scarves, collars, necklaces . . . those sorts of things." Jen just smiled as she thought of the guy, but I could only shudder away from the image.

I was hoping, just hoping against everything my mind was for, that I knew this kid. "What's his name and why would he like me?"

Jen stopped in the hall causing a couple of the people behind us to mutter and curse at us, but I ignored them. Jen looked me over like she was confused. "Why would he not like you?"

I shrugged. "There's a bunch of reasons. For one, I don't think I'm more attractive than this Rosalie person."

"True, but then again, who would want to look like that all the time? It must get annoying, constantly having to maintain that image." Jen had nailed it right on the head; these things don't change. Either that or they change very slowly. Truth is, it probably didn't take any effort to hold up that persona for Rosalie. "And honestly, Eve, you are very pretty. Pretty, actually is an understatement. You're naturally beautiful. If you would only show that off, you could have any guy in this school that you wanted."

I waved her away. "Been there, done that. Did you know I dated Craig a while back?"

Jen gasped, then shook her head. "Well, I could see that actually. So I don't see why this Alexander guy can't like you and you like him. Seems simple enough," she ended in a mutter, but chills were too busy invading my spine for me to hear her.

"Alexander?" I murmured, shell shocked. "Alexander what? What's his last name?"

Jen looked me over, her eyes narrowed just ever so slightly. "Thymes I think. I really don't know all that much about him. I could always find out more about him, if you want me to."

I shook my head. "No, I'm fine, really. I think . . . I'll go talk to him or something." I nodded, confirming my thoughts. Alexander. The coincidences are just too . . . there, to actually be coincidences. This is a theory, and it's being tested all the way.

Even if I look like a fool in the process.

Jen smiled. "All right. See how easy that was? I'm sure he'll want to talk to you anyway, the way he was looking at you was so adorable. Lucky."

"Nothing has happened yet," I reminded her, keeping my unnerved tone in check. No need to go overboard and start doing flips in the air. It was just a theory.

"Coming over Saturday are you? I doubt you'll enjoy Alice's pestering after so long," Edward's voice commented from behind me.

I whirled, eyes bulged in surprise, but he was just standing there beside Bella, all smirks and grins. Jerk. "Uh . . . yeah actually. I think it'll be fun." Especially if Alexander is there and I'm not alone with all of you.

Edward didn't answer. Then again, if he was answering people's thoughts all the time, I'd be replaced from being the freak in this school and he would become the school's mascot for sure.

Edward tipped his head just slightly, and I forced back a smile. Coolio on my behalf.

"Look, Eve, I have to go," Jen called, already halfway down the hallway. She just didn't want to be anywhere near Edward, I was sure. And who would want to be near any of them? Naturally, if I hadn't been around Alexander all the time, I would be more repelled than intrigued by their presence.

"So you are coming over Saturday?" Bella asked, sounding pleased. "Alice probably already knows that you're going, but I'm sure she's thrilled," she crooned.

"Thrilled is an understatement," Edward muttered. He decided to look over to the wall than at me or Bella. Strange how he seemed so upset by Alice being happy to throw me a party. I was thrilled for lack of a better word. Ecstatic. My first party that I wasn't planning for just three people, one who never showed up to begin with and one who couldn't be seen by the other.

I cleared my throat. "I have nothing better planned." Edward nodded and Bella smiled, flashing a brilliant half smile that was probably meant not to scare me.

It didn't scare me necessarily, but it seemed out of touch on her angelic face. I knew, deep down, that their teeth were just as deadly, if not deadlier, than the rest of their bodies.

I wasn't fooled by their charade for a second.

--

It was later in the day when I began to worry. Alice and Alexander weren't there for lunch, both of them having decided to skip. Edward hinted that Alice had 'seen' something happening to Alexander that they wanted to amend before it actually happened. Seeing the future must be a taxing but informative skill to have.

But in every class that I had attended, Alexander was supposed to be in. I hadn't even noticed that he had been in my Design II class, my first period class, until I thought back to it. In every single one of them.

And I haven't even seen the guy's face yet. Still, the only reason I would have to see his face would be to confirm the already accepted truth.

This guy was Alexander. My Alexander was hanging around with the Cullens, and people could see him. For sure. Unless I was totally wrong, I was oh so totally right on this fact.

He hadn't left me. It was stupid to believe that he could have left me, all alone in this world, with a bunch of nonhuman monsters living down the road from me and a shadow stalker.

Of course, I still had to worry about something. One minor worry was how Alexander had changed. And if he had changed, how different was he really? I stand by the principle that people don't change unless they put all their heart and soul into it, but then again people are wired the way they are. Bottom line. People don't change.

But had his physical appearance changed? It had to of. Alexander looked at least thirty to my eyes, and unless he was playing facades as a teacher, there was no way he was passing as a student.

But had his hair color changed? Did he still have the brilliant ruby eyes, and if he did, how was he hiding them from everyone in school? Amber colored eyes you could get away with, but not ruby. Not unless he wore sunglasses all the time, and that's just impossible to get away with in a place with practically no sunlight. Was he still the strong and silent type, able to answer my questions without dancing around the subject?

All the thoughts in my head were enough for to want to rip my hair out, but there was one centrical question that kept the others in place, orbiting my brain like they were kept there through gravity.

Because of this, Alexander's coming back to me, was I going to be happy?

Was the change in me going to be so great that I'd have a ghost of my own following me? Hating me? Wanting me? And finally, was that already happening? Did all of this have anything to do with the shadowy voice that was now stalking me?

I'd bet every dollar in my dad's bank account (because really, it's no skin off my back) that I could answer every single one of those questions and get it right.

I am right, at least ninety percent of the time.

At least.

Alexander couldn't have changed, and yes, it had everything to do with it.

--

"Do you need a ride home or are you planning on taking the late bus again?"

Okay so I was running a little later than usual. I had chosen to swing by the library when thirteenth period let out to drop off the book I had been reading two nights ago. Then I had to pick up a new book. 'Just a Legend' was stashed safely away in my bag.

It was a story about a guy who didn't want to be a hero, even though he had saved the world from his old master. He wore a mask and toted a gun around with him, and he wasn't human. Actually, he was something made from science. I had read the book a couple of times, so I knew where to find it in the library.

I had taken time out of my day to find it because I knew this book in particular could take me away from my life. Still, he didn't need to rub it in, fancy, stupid, shiny car owner . . .

I turned, looking for Edward in the crowd behind me. People jostled by, muttering about people stopping in the middle of the hallway, but I really didn't care. It wasn't like there wasn't enough room in the hall to pass us by.

I shrugged when I locked eyes with his. "Not sure. Not unless you really want to. You're going to be sick of me by this weekend, I'm sure," I ended in a mutter.

Edward smiled only slightly. "Really? As I've said, Alice is psyched. The last birthday we celebrated was Bella's," he said, turning to look into Bella's face. Again, another really awkward moment since they were supposed to be family, adopted or not.

He pulled away from her as soon as I thought this, and I winced, remembering the whole mind thing. It's a hard 'thing' to forget - even harder to keep in mind - but I'm used to being able to think whatever without the fret of a mind raping telepath coming in and stealing them away from me. Then again, that must be really annoying for the telepath.

Besides hearing the great gossip that is.

"And, well, we had to pull teeth to get her to even agree to that," he smirked and Bella threw him a glare.

But they weren't done talking yet. "I think it's more like you'll be sick of Alice by the end of the weekend," Bella offered. "Unless nail painting, watching movies, and throwing expensive gifts at each other is something you enjoy."

I shrugged. "I. . ." Could I really say that I hadn't even had a party with anyone else other than my parents? I didn't have any outer family - my dad kind of forced my mom to leave her family on the west coast when they got married. Those relatives didn't send me gifts either, let alone offer a phone call or anything our way. Heck, I probably wasn't even born to their knowledge.

I sighed. I had already told Alice anyway. "I've never had a party before. So really, whatever you want to do."

Bella looked shocked, then she smiled.

Odd little half smiles too, like they didn't want to reveal all of their teeth. Then again, I wonder how far their lips could pull away from their teeth. I'm sure it would look more creepy than happy if anything.

"How old are you Eve?"

What an odd question. Odder yet, I didn't quite know the answer. "Sixteen?"

"Sixteen? And not a single party?" Ouch. She didn't have to look so surprised about it. "Because you didn't want to do anything big?" she clarified, jumping to conclusions.

I shook my head. "Oh, no. I would have loved to have parties when I was little. It's just that no one likes me enough to come over to my house. I think last year my boyfriend broke up with me on my birthday. Really, Bella. It's fine. You guys don't have to even give me anything; in fact I don't expect it," I laughed to relieve some of the tension I had helped create. "The idea, the mere thought that someone other than . . . my parents care about it is enough for me." I had stumbled through my words, catching myself before I said anything about Alexander. Should the Cullens even know about him?

"Which reminds me," Edward murmured, his eyes growing distant for the briefest of seconds. "Alice will be upset with me telling you, but Alexander is doing fine. You can stop thinking that we killed him," he snickered.

As if that kind of thing is funny. Truth be told that I had been worried sick about him all yesterday. Didn't help that they weren't at school either.

Edward's face grew concerned, and to follow suit, so did Bella's. "No, it's not very funny. You're right. But . . . are you saying Alexander . . . he's never missed a day or just stayed inside for a whole day before?"

I shook my head. "There's the times . . . when his eyes grow dark," I said, looking around. The hall was thinning by the second. I kind of had to ride home with them at this point. "He leaves for a night but always comes back with lighter eyes. It varies from month to month depending on the color of his eyes."

They both listened, for whatever reason they saw fit, finding what I was saying fascinating. "I thought you were quick to figure things out."

"Because I'm observant," I snapped at Edward. "Anyone can 'figure things out' if they just watched people. Heck, people tell you what they are half the time. They say they're bad, or they lie, they're cheating on you, or that they're shy. Most of the time, they mean it because they want someone else to know what they really know. Don't go making me out to be either special because I see things or ignorant because I'm missing something." I took a breath, realizing how stupid and crazy I sounded, but how right it all was.

No way I was stopping now. Or just ending it there, at least. "And if you're so smart, why don't you tell me what the eye color means, or where Alexander goes off to every other month. I'm sure you know everything about him, right?"

Edward winced while Bella glared at him. "Sorry. You've got a temper, don't you?"

He was changing the subject.

"I'm not keen to letting people walk over me, or get away with calling me ignorant, no," I growled, leaning against the wall.

"Then I am sorry. I didn't think you would take it that way. I'm just . . . surprised." He paused, looking around the hall and then letting his eyes fall on Bella before he spoke. His gaze didn't move from Bella while he spoke to me. "You know we aren't human, and yet you don't know what we are exactly. It's . . . just strange to me."

Oh. I felt furiously stupid now, so I looked up to the ceiling. "Okay." The conversation between me and Alexander, the day before he left for some stupid reason, flashed in my mind. And there, he had tried telling me he wasn't human, perhaps even that he was bad. But I refused to believe he was because bad people stayed with the bad guys instead of leaving them. Alexander cared too much to be the evil villain in my life, because I had enough of those kinds of men in my life.

"You said you didn't want to know?" Edward asked, amazement flavoring his tone.

I jolted out of my blissful memory. "No," I began with trepidation. "I still don't want to know really."

Edward looked pained. "So alike," he whispered, turning to me. "What was the comic you were reading?"

I wasn't even going to correct him on the difference between comic books and mangas. There was a different, and it was slight, but the fact remained that they were different. "Vampire Knight," I answered.

A wry smile took over Edward's face. "How fitting. In any case, I doubt Alexander would appreciate anyone but himself telling you about . . . "

"You," I finished for him, guessing.

He nodded. "Right. Well, Alice will be driving you home then." To Bella, he said, "Jake is already at the elementary school. We're cutting it a bit close as it is," he warned, turning away.

I blanched. "I'm riding home alone with Alice?"

Edward turned. "Jasper as well. Is that okay with you? Bella and I have somewhere we need to be."

At the elementary school. What the heck was so important at the elementary school?

Edward raised an eye brow, stopping in his walk away from me with Bella. So I figured I had to know about this. It took me at least half a minute. Well, if that cherub from the picture hadn't aged much from when the picture was taken, then she would at least be acceptable in third grade, wouldn't she? And the elementary schoolers had a certain back to school night event going on, didn't they?

I was rewarded with a smile and a wink, and I couldn't help but shrug and pull my mouth up in a kind of regretful smile. "See you on Saturday Eve," Bella called, waving over her shoulder as they rounded the corner to the parking lot.

Such a nice couple, you know? Young, but still nice.

Wondered, for a second, what their story was. Then I jumped when Edward's words set in. I was riding home alone with Alice and Jasper, and even though I had put some of my trust in the group, I wasn't prepared to go ride, even for five minutes, in a car without my guardian there to at least hold them off while I ran.

There was no way, no how. I froze up in that hallway, right then and there, holding my breath until my head began to swim. I was alone in the hall by now, everyone else having dispersed to their cars or designated busses. I could call my mom, backing out at the last minute, but the chances were she wouldn't even be home. And she wouldn't like picking me up this early in the school year.

I shivered, feeling a draft come up from behind me. "You know, Alice is the kind of person who doesn't have a single patient cell in her body," a voice whispered and I yelped, turning around in a whirl.

My one second plan had been to lash out with my palm, slapping whoever it was, but I ended up falling backwards on my butt before I could connect with any flesh. "Oh," I moaned, shutting my eyes at a pencil jammed from my bag into my lower back.

"Dammit," the person growled, dropping down near me. I leaned away from them, rubbing where the pencil had jabbed through my sweater and into my skin. "You're not easy to fright, you know. What's gotten into you now?"

I paused, letting the strangely familiar voice sink into my brain. I opened my eyes, lifting my head into the face of the person who had frightened me. I was more shocked than I had been when he had randomly jumped me in the hall.

My eyes closed, blocking the image of the slightly smiling boy from my mind for a few seconds, just out of shock. When I opened them again, he was closer, now worried, the smile gone. He was offering his pale hand up for support, but I just looked at it like it wasn't supposed to be there. For all I knew, it really wasn't.

Alexander. Here. In the hall. With me.

Well, it just couldn't be.

But there he was, in front of me. Granted, he was about twenty years younger or so. How he managed that one, I'd have to find out. "Alex?"

He nodded. He hopped on his feet after a long drawn out pause, looking upset with something. His expression took on the look of someone who seems displeased, or irritated with a certain smell or taste, but can't quite place it. "Alice," he reminded me, "isn't very patient. She'll be upset with me when I see her again."

He was so sure of himself, using as little words as he could to explain something.

I stood, brushing myself off. My back really hurt, and I wondered if the pencil had penetrated through skin. Alexander stiffened as soon as I turned my back to him to pick up my fallen bag, taking on the stance of something in the Metropolitan. "Eve," he said, his voice strangled. "Eve. You are bleeding."

"So?" I asked, running a hand up my shirt just to double check. I made sure my bag was secure on my shoulder before I pulled my hand away. Sure enough, on the tip of my finger, was a single blood droplet. "How did you know tha–" I looked up to Alexander, freezing out of instinct.

Why would a little red blood bother him like this? Honestly. I can understand people who faint at the sight of blood, but Alexander didn't strike me as one of those people (even though he isn't technically a person) and he certainly couldn't be bothered with the little drop on my finger. I doubt he could clearly see it from where he stood and the angle I held it at, so he didn't have to be a wuss about it.

Then something made me consider that Alexander wasn't being a wuss; he looked like he was fending off some mental onslaught to his brain. His whole body was rigid in pain. "Alexander?" He didn't move or speak, so I stayed put out of innate fear.

Slowly, my eyes trained on his which were trained on my finger, I licked the blood from my finger. The warm life-giving fluid sitting on my tongue felt like lead, so I quickly swallowed it to hide the evidence and let my arm drop to my side.

Alexander still didn't relax. Then again, I was still bleeding from my back. Stupid pencil.

There was no way he could see that though. Alexander took in a ragged breath, the air hitching in his throat. "Oh God . . . I can smell it," he croaked, his voice a mix of a sob and a snarl.

I took a step back, confused. I mean that, blood is just blood . . . right? People can't . . . smell blood . . . nor are they . . . drawn to it like he seemed to be. The mere sight of it . . . shouldn't . . . pain him like this.

Right?

I suddenly realized, like a load of bricks falling onto my head, that I was in some serious trouble. Serious. Big time. Trouble.

And the trouble came in the form of Alexander. Didn't I point out that I was lucky?

**A/N: Cliff hanger? -evil laugh- Love you all, and please, please, please review. I love reviews soooo much.**

**A/N: I'll be participating in NaNoWriMo. That's in a month, so hang in there for November because I can't possibly do that AND this at the same time. I'm really sorry, but I love the idea of this. It's so. . .novel. XD -bad pun-**


	6. Diluculo Lamia

**A/N: There are no words to express how sorry I am on how late this is getting out to you, or how short this is in comparison to other chapters. Really. -sobs- My nanowrimo story can be found on my gaia journal (not the end though =P) or on Subeta when I get around to posting it, so if you like to see what I was working on instead of this, go check it out. Other wise. . . -grovels-**

**A/N: To lighten up the mood somewhat, this is a short bit of Alexander's history. If you guys like reading about Alexander's back story, I'll write a bit more of it sparingly. Review this chapter with your opinions to help me out a bit, please.**

**A/N: Today's chapter was inspired to you solely by Coldplay's, 'Liva la Vida' although this has nothing to do with the actual song.**

**Might be More Than you Can See**

**Chapter Five, Part One** – **Birthdays are Made of These. . .**

It was the year 1658. At least, I remember being told that it was. Pardon me if I forget some of the details of my previous life.

My family had spent every last pound on my father's health, for he had been sick for a long while. The doctors my mother hired didn't help him, the medical leeches. They merely sucked us dry and hastened his leave from this world, I'm sure of it. He died at age fifty-four.

Our future was banked on Father's recovery for he held the power in the family along with the knowledge to run the shipping business he had started when he was younger. With his death, the responsibility would fall upon the eldest son of the Thyme's family.

He was turning eighteen at the turn of the month, and cared nothing for the movement of goods on the Themes. Too busy he was with chasing skirts that he didn't even hear the news of his own father's death until three or four days had passed.

I can assure you he regretted his absence from the home greatly, but nothing could change the fact that he hadn't been there. I think he had been somewhere in the local pub at the time Mother told him, but again I cannot be certain upon the details. Only the feelings were carried over into the next life.

Pity things never turned out the way they are planned. Mother threw herself off the balcony the day he returned home. She was only thirty-three.

With no money, there was no business. With no income, there were no luxuries. With no luxury, there was no holding the social status their parents had held when they were alive. With no parents and the eldest suddenly burdened with his four younger siblings, there was no guidance. With no guidance there was chaos.

Pardon the fact that the old me had need of a slight vacation after burying his parents and finding homes for the two youngest siblings - one of them nigh a year old yet - at their great aunt's house. I only wish he had waited a day or so to crash and burn.

He chose to drown his grief with alcohol he couldn't even afford at the local tavern. It was a down trodden place, selling cheap brandy and overworked 'ladies of pleasure', located within the city limits.

Again, there is no point in remembering the small details such as the tavern's name for such trite meaningless items are lost in the fog of time, but I am forever trapped in the memory of what happened that night.

I remember _them_ as clearly as a blind man remembers his first site after years of darkness.

They paid for the drinks I had bartered from the tender, and then led the drunken me up to. Hell I don't even remember where it all took place. But one of them, the prettier of them with her auburn hair tied into a loose bun, recognized me while the over laid me against the wall.

_"I know the man,"_ she had said. _"You should reconsider what you're about to do, Mary. He has two sisters to care for."_

Her warning was lost on the wicked sprite. The initial pain was lost in the alcohol. The actual bite was deadened by my weariness. With each passing second I grew less and less aware of my surroundings, my strength leaving me with every mouthful of me she took from my neck.

Personally, there are other areas I prefer over the neck. They are far more _accessible_ in my own opinion.

All I know is the pain that seeped from my neck when they had left me in some alley. Someone heard my screams at last, and brought me to the local off duty doctor. After he had tried everything, and after my living condition took a turn for the worse, they had called in a priest to either bury me or cleanse me. Typical that the fools thought I was possessed by the devil.

And as usual, the pain ended in a few throbs of my heart. I'm sure others could describe to you in greater detail their transformations, but I simply wish to try and forget the ordeal to no avail. There was pain, then there was nothing.

I had thrashed in the bed, the sheets ripped and torn apart by my now inhuman hands, silent for the remainder of the third night after I had met the she-devils. It was then that my little brother had chosen to appear at my bedside to check upon my well being.

It was his mistake to put so much trust in the 'possessed'.

My brother was the third oldest of the four siblings I had. Timothy Warren Thymes Junior. Besides him I had a sister of a few months, another sister of two years, and one more sister of seventeen years. Timothy was only ten.

Oh, I didn't kill him. I'm not sure what stopped me from completely draining him. It was hard - Gods was it hard - to pull away from him once I had him in my hold, but I had to. The instinct to feed was over ridden once I realized just who it was that I was feasting upon.

Horrified, I ran with him in my arms to the cemetery. No one saw me nor paid me much heed although I could see and _smell_ them all so clearly. And there I sat, cradling him and reflecting upon everything.

The first task at hand was to find the devils that had done this to me, the blood feasting wretches they were, and see if I could not undo what they had done. Of course, now that I know better, there is no cure to the venom. But hope springs eternal in those who are lost forever.

Timothy, so unlike me, stayed quiet for what seemed to be the longest night of my life, whimpering only every so often. Worse yet, out of it all, I could hear his heart beating weakly against his rib cage. Some part of me knew he wouldn't last much longer, so I stayed put until the sun started to peek up and over the London haze. That was the time when I had to move under ground, for fear that the sun would burn me the moment the rays touched my flesh.

Of course, it was a silly notion, but thank goodness humans tell stories about vampires hating the sun or else I would have stayed and lit up like a watch tower's beacon.

I hid in one of the crypts until the sun had gone down, and only once or twice had my brother cried out. I began to worry then about what people would think. The priest must have known something - whether it be a wrong and daft notion or not - but I doubted that he would have helped me. He would have me burned at the stake for being a witch, a demon, unable to be treated or helped in the eyes of God, and that would be that.

I didn't leave Tim however. I was supposed to be protecting my family from the onslaughts of life, and I wasn't going to fail them whether I was a monster or not. All the while there was this horrible driving force that burned my throat and stomach, aching my body till it drove me near to madness, but I fought it off the best that I could.

Later, I knew, I would have to find someone to kill and feed from, but later was later. Much later in fact.

It was by mere fate alone that I found Nina. She was walking along the other side of the street, keeping to herself until I passed. Then she descended upon me, and without a word, took me to see someone else like her and myself. Maximilian.

There, between the two of them, I found out what I now know about our kind. The sun that I thought harmed us did not, but simply reacted with our skin in a peculiar way and we sparkled. The blood of humans was our food. Aside from everything that seems typical knowledge, I learned of the two that had done this to me.

They were intrusions to Nina and Maximilian, partaking in food from their territory of London. Nina was an old vampire, older than some I have seen throughout my lifetime, and hailed from Russia. She was eccentric and heavy built, but nonetheless beautiful. I still try to keep in touch with her, for although she may be seen as a monster to some eyes, she is perhaps the kindest soul I have seen.

Carlisle's soul must rival hers in brilliance, but I cannot be sure, of course.

Maximilian was her mate and he hailed from Germany. The two had held London for near fifteen years, or at least one part of the city, being discreet in feeding and movement outside of their decrepit building.

They had been having problems with the two female newcomers, and they were not the only ones. Ancient vampires that dwelled deep in the bowels of the city had grown restless with the two's frivolous ways of feeding, and were urging others to take them down.

Nina only let me pass because of my brother. Every other abomination of the two that she found she had destroyed without moment's pause. I guess I can consider myself lucky. She said the way I was carrying Tim touched her somewhere, and she couldn't kill someone who actually cared for another.

They let my brother transgress through the stage toward immortality in peace, although they did not have a bed for him to wake up in. Meanwhile, I explored the city in new light, hunting for the two witches and brooding upon my luckless days.

When Timothy finally awoke sometime after the fifth day, weak and starved, bright eyed and dangerous, they explained to him what they had explained to me. I hated facing the evidence of my guilt, so I did not return to them when I heard the news. Instead, I hunted.

I returned a week later, finding my brother exuberant and doing much finer than I had been doing, thriving off of being a demon of the night. In his happiness however, I learned through Nina that he was much more curious with his reason in life. He wasn't happy with the truth, but insisted upon trying everything.

As of now, I can say he is the better man than I am, and he is the reason the Cullen's way of life does not strike me as odd. For Timothy eventually tried living off animal blood, if not just for the sake of trying.

That's getting ahead of myself. Within the next week Maximilian had tracked down the location of the two immortal females, and was making plans to strike them down for they had stayed stupidly in the city. All the while I kept thinking back to the words the auburn haired woman had said to her friend. They were so cold, so uncaring, though they did seem to be tinted with distaste and hate. I doubted the two liked each other much, and were simply friends of circumstance.

It was sheer luck that I was right, but they both were destroyed in the end. It was during the fight that Nina found what I could do best. As a human I was always equipped well with blending into crowds. I was the best at hiding against a wall while dances went on before me and merriment flowed around me. No one of importance took a great deal of notice to Alexander Thymes unless the timing called for it.

How justified it seemed then that I could blend in against the very air and become unseen to those about my being. At first it merely happened because I would wish to be alone and undo what I had become, but during the next year I grew accustomed to the feel of my 'power' and learned to simply switch it on and off when I demanded it to.

During the following years, after the deaths of the two immortal females, I and my brother kept in touch with Nina and Maximilian as we traversed the countryside; I was looking for answers to a cure, if there was one. Timothy simply took advantage of being immortal and sought answers to everything. He was young and still is, which Nina said made him dangerous.

To the best of my ability, I avoided others like us and kept Tim's being a secret. We were warned against an ancient clan that would most likely have Timothy destroyed for his age, although Nina scolded Maximilian for telling us such stories.

However, the Volturi existed and was a driving force during much of my past life.

Finding my answers to the many questions I posed proved a futile quest however, so I abandoned it. Upon returning to Nina and Maximilian, who only eight years later had taken up a hold in another country side town, not so far from London but close enough, I found that my life had little meaning.

While my two foster parents had themselves, and Timothy had himself (he would soon have meaning to his life, but that would be short lived - yours truly sees to that), I had no one to care for, worry about and to, or spend eternity with.

Family is nice and all, and you should always choose family over friends, but in this new life I only had one family member who was so enchanted with his new life that he held little concern for that of his older brother's.

So, without a word, I stole away to London to find the fate of my sister's, alone in the dead of night. To my knowledge, no one tried to follow me.

As it turns out, the story of my two younger sisters is much more pleasant than that of my elder sister. They grew with their aunts, one becoming a nun in my name, pledging to help all those who would be tainted by Satan. Some good came of that night, I suppose. The other, Marriable, married away into nobility, and lived a luxurious life. She was the youngest. Naive.

The elder, however, was taken pity upon by a seemingly nice, older gentleman who offered her money, home, and life if she were to live with him. It seemed as if God aspired against her however, as the man grew drunken with alcohol frequently, and beat her. By the time I had come to check in on her when I had over heard of her plight, she was broken and bleeding on the floor of her bed room, the Filth of the House leaving for another night out in the tavern.

I didn't know of what much else to do other than kill the wretch, so I did so as he was returning home in the early hours of the dawn. It wasn't hard, and I had fed before entering the city. I wouldn't need another meal in at least a month, perhaps two months time.

But it was a temptation, nonetheless.

Elizabeth. That was her name. She had bourne the monster three children, two of which hadn't lived past childhood, while the third grew up to be a knight who was killed during some silly and pointless war. I watched over her for a few years, watching her wither away into nothing but a shell as life threw onslaught after onslaught upon her.

I still hold the affections for my sister to this day. I always thought of myself as a guardian to the family, until I failed of course. Those kinds of feelings are not touched by the years of time or the fog of old age, for we neither change nor age.

It's a blessing hidden within a curse, I suppose.

Her death - the cause a fever - did little to ease my loneliness in this world, for I couldn't bring myself to change her as I had accidentally done unto Timothy. She was so young, and had so much to live for. I had hoped she would pull out of her sickness, but as all my earlier hopes, they were crushed with her lingering last breath and dying heart beat.

So I left the city and traveled about the world, feeding as I went and simply just existing. Days melted into night and nights melted into nothingness under the dense tree tops of the German forests. The sun scorched through my skin, but I was unseen by all who beheld me in their company as I wandered the deserts. Rain became my enemy in the cities, as they outlined my phantom form as I navigated around and through the crowds of the living.

Life became boring.

I think ten or so years went by until I chose to find Nina, Maximilian, and my dear brother Timothy. They had moved again, this time residing no where in England and instead dwelling on the steppes of Russia. The cold air didn't affect them as it would humans, but I found them in heavy skins and furs when I arrived in nothing but a dirtied shirt and britches.

They took me in, all too pleased to find me, and I found that their numbers had grown. There were three editions to the group - two males and a female. Needless to say, as I had pointed out earlier, this female had taken certain affections for my brother. She looked to be in her earlier twenties, chosen by the one male because of her striking human beauty. Goes to show that our kind are impossibly vain and shallow.

While the one, Sebastian, her maker, was enamored with her, she, Mary, could not care any less for him. Timothy was also over whelmed with her very form. She seemed to draw males in, like a plant trap lures flies to their doom. Whether she tried using this against me on purpose or not, it led to be her undoing.

Timothy and Sebastian eventually fought for her hand, as humans duel for attention I suppose, but as Timothy was about to be struck down - him being so much smaller and less able than the older immortal - I launched myself between them and told them enough was enough.

I just couldn't stand by and let the last of my . . . perhaps the last of my entertainment in this world leave me. Sebastian was furious with the interruption, but chose to end the fight there or else induce the wrath of the invisible, as I choose to call it.

Feeling awkward, remembering even now the emotions I felt that day, I left once more without a word. I felt no guilt leaving as such, for I'm sure they would grow accustomed to it.

It was a few years later, since nothing of dire importance happened to me while I wandered the European world, that I heard word of my 'family' in need. Timothy was under question, his age being so close to that of a child's that the ancient coven saw to destroy him, and anyone in collaboration with him.

I rushed to where I had heard rumors, whispers of where they were staying, and found them succumbed to their fate, waiting until the time they would die.

None of them moved. None of them saw. Not a single of them chose to heed my calling. Of course, I thought this was because of my unseen being, but before I chose to reveal myself I caught sight of the heavy fog cloaking the ground.

It seemed to whip toward me, searching but not finding, and I left the clearing a few paces until the misty tendrils stopped short of where I stood. That was when I saw the cloaked figures. Several of them - two smaller, perhaps in their earlier teens, one a bit more largely built in a grey cloak, and two withered, dusty fools in pitch black cloaks. The one who stood attentive at the head of the group with hair darker than that of his cloak and nearly longer than his neck, seemed about to speak when I made myself known.

The sight of someone simply appearing, not traveling at blinding speeds to a final, destined point, but just _being_ there in a second, forced them to falter.

I always wonder what would have happened if I let them go. If I had let Aro, although I hadn't known him to be the monster he was then (oh, if I knew then what I know now. . .), deliver his sentence, what would have happened? Would my friends and family be spared, or crushed in one swift blow? I'll never know. Never.

All I know is what happened. The four looked to me, and the tendrils moved, which I tried to side step until an over whelming pain took over me. It raked my body of all other feelings, over riding the thirst, the will to live, the very memory of the pain that had turned me into what I was. Nothing can be compared to the _pain_ the witch spelled upon me, although it was merely physical. As I lay there, clenched in a ball, and heard the snicker, but I also heard the command to stop.

And immediately the fire left my limbs, chest, and veins. I popped up, immediately wishing myself to be unseen, and there I sat, studying them. The expressions ranged from smiling (Aro and Jane), to wary (Felix), to calm (Alec).

In the next second, I slowly forced myself to ease into a pretense of calm, allowing myself to be seen when I didn't want to. I wasn't the first to speak.

"What have we here? Alexander, is it?"

I froze and the smiling, frail looking vampire had held up his hand in a sign of peace. "Now, now. I know your little trick. I certainly hope you'll listen before running off."

I had stayed sitting, watching them with the equivalent expression that an animal has when it knows it's cornered, but knows there's hope in freedom. "Good," Aro smiled and lowered his hand, taking a step away from the other three. They had not liked that, being separated from him though he had shown no emotion toward it. "Peace, my children. I only wish to talk."

Through it all, I remained silent, listening to the devil weave his tale and lies through my brain. Ashamed, I have to admit, that his spell worked, and I listened and was lead down the path of hatred.

Then again, if I hadn't intervened at a crucial moment . . . if I hadn't decided to join the powerful coven of Volterra, the only family and friends I had would have been executed right in front of me.

I would have been set free, free to live through the horror of the crime, knowing full well I could have done something to stop them.

It's a good thing I love my brother as much as I do . . .


	7. Hey, No One Lives Forever

**Chapter Seven  
**Hey, No One Lives Forever

_So Sets the Sun of my Life__ - Thank you so much for the tips. I'll reread this chapter plenty of times before I submit it again. It's just that I was a bit rushed before. -sweats and gets back to working-_

_Carlysaurus__ - I would hope it's original. . .you know. . .for a fanfiction work. Can't have knock offs running around here. -shifty eyes-_

_ElizabethDarcy83_ _- Alexander reminded you of Lestat? Wait. . .a Twilighter that's actually read Anne Rice?! -dies- I can't find any who've even seen Bram Stoker's Dracula, let alone seen Dark Shadows with Barnabus Collins. -le gasp- I think you've given me the best complement ever. Seriously._

_Cherlock__ - Oh, it will. It better clear up soon. -glares at the key board- Right words? You'll obey me in the end, right? -strokes keys- Good keyboard. . .and you're right. It's all in your head. -evil laugh-_

**-fidgets- For some reason, this didn't want to get written. I kept making blatant errors and skipping over minor details.** **I beg you to pardon any blatant mistakes you see, and tell me about them.**

**The outlook for the last chapter all seems to be very positive. I'll continue with Alexander's POV updates every chapter or so.**

**Again, it's a rather short chapter, but I've been really busy lately with school and the holidays. (I.E. my parents need to stop buying me video games) I'm working on the next chapter now. At least this clears up the cliff hanger for all of you. Plus, all my proxies are blocked at the school now. I'm done for.**

**Song for this chapter is Oingo Boingo's 'No One Lives Forever'. Although that inspired another later part in this story, I don't think that'll play in well. Truth be told, I have no set ending for this yet. Better get on that. . .**

If I was about to die, I had best start thinking of better times, like the time I had first seen Alexander. Any memory with Alexander, before this week at least, was better than what was happening now.

Everyone knows the kind of romance stories where the two people fall in love at first sight, their eyes crossing in a crowded place. But what about just one person seeing another in a crowded place? How about simply noticing what shouldn't be there, being there?

That's kind of like the story of how I found Alexander, but not really. I mean, we're not passionately in love or anything. It's not that kind of first sight destiny.

It was a fairly white memory, even before I saw him.

We were in London (Dad and his business trips). And it was snowing. What was more impossible? The snow was laying and it was laying white - there was no gray tint to this purity, and what I remember the most was irritation. People were grumbling about the war, and about the snow, and about the holidays.

When had the world become so. ..so. . .so much like Charles Dicken's Scrooge?

Even as a child, I was easily irritated, and the people around me were irritating me and my mother wasn't helping me any, who, in fact, was tugging me along like my arm was just a leash to tow me around by. She took me into store after store and bought things without putting any heart into them. This is one reason I hate material gifts as much as I do.

Gifts without soul are just dead. Deader than vampires and zombies, Grandma Renee or computers. Dead.

I wanted to get Daddy something I had thought really hard about, and had made by myself. Something I wasn't going to find in an apartment store, already made in a factory somewhere in India, but something that I was going to find pieces of, in several apartment stores.

I was thinking about breaking free from my mom and dashing into the craft store when I saw _him_.

At first, I thought he _was_ the snow. Then, after a few seconds of staring, I realized the white figure was walking _in_ the snow, just like everyone else. His face was down, his coat drawn up, and he was minding his own business. What was so extraordinary about this figure though, was the way he dodged people.

The figure would be walking fine, just like everyone else, and then he would blur momentarily and appear somewhere in front of someone, or on the opposite side of the street. I also took notice that he didn't contribute to the carbon dioxide levels in the air - no frozen vapor cloud followed him around like a forgotten friend. The man hadn't _breathed_.

So I took him as what I always took _them_ as. Some delusion from my mind that I took medicine to fix. Still, just because he didn't exist didn't mean I had to be mean to him, so when I had passed him I had said my pardons and been on my way.

The man had frozen, and the action was so abrupt, that I really did break away from my mother's grasp to stare at him, then hurried away because I had been taught that staring was rude.

I recall running up to my mother and tugging on her arm, asking repeatedly if she could see 'the man made of snow', but she got real panicky and said no one was there. The man wasn't too thrilled that I saw him either.

But I remember. I remember the sheen of his glistening eyes, and the way his face went slack when I pointed him out in the crowd. The way his hair curled in the moisture, whipping around in the wind. People just walked around him, as if he wasn't there, but they knew, on some subconscious level, that they couldn't walk in the space he occupied.

I remember, but what good is remembering all those wonderful little details, details of a life that was so great until I screwed it up, when you were about to die in the next minute?

Lost in my memory and within my own mind, I didn't see Alexander start taking deep breaths until I snapped out of my daze. It couldn't have taken me very long to remember just that one little scene, but he had loosened himself up in the time I had taken to make myself feel better. Alexander didn't look like he was made of stone anymore. He just looked normal to me now.

The danger level in my brain went from red to orange. "Smell it?" I questioned, the voice erupting from my throat without my brain's consent. "How can you smell blood?"

Alexander kept his head lowered, not looking into my face. The brat. Now anger started to fill in the void of fear, but there was still fear. My mind kept reminding me of that with every heart beat I took. "What's with you? No simple hello, how are you, don't mind my absence for the couple of days I've been gone? How about that stunt you pulled earlier, at lunch? You weren't there," I accused, tightening my hands into fists.

I really couldn't help it. I was suddenly very, very angry with the only person who could ever make me feel right in the world. Very, very, very angry wouldn't even cover the amount of heat that was filling my chest, replacing the cold, numbness of fear.

The danger level in my brain wavered just above the red level, just as a warning.

Alexander didn't look up still. "Where were you anyway? What in God's name inspired you, in that twisted little world you live in, to leave me all alone? You know what I thought?" I waited, then tightened my fists so much that it ached my forearms. "I thought they had killed you. I thought they had fu-"

My cell phone went off. What rotten timing. I sighed and flipped open my bag, the pain in my back throbbing slightly, and I cut off the Safety Dance mid-refrain. "This had better be important," I growled, backing away from Alexander before either myself or he attacked the other.

He mirrored me, keeping his head down.

The person on the other end of the phone didn't seem to like being growled at by a hormonal teenager, and she let me know this. I gawked at the phone before I put it back to my ear. "Geesh Alice. Sorry, sorry, sorry," I apologized to get her to calm down.

"'This better be important,'" she mimicked. "Did you hear what she said? Here we're sitting, out in the car while its pouring outside, and she talks like that to me?"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," I repeated, trying to put some earnest into my tone. "I'm just a little . . . preoccupied."

"Yes I sent him to get you. But did you hear her? Talking to me like that."

"I said I was sorry dammit," I practically yelled into the phone, only lowering it when I realized the school had afterschool activities going on in some of the classrooms. Only the hallway was empty, not the classrooms.

Alice was quiet on the other line, and then she was laughing. "I'm only teasing you, you know."

I kind of felt stupid at that point. "Oh. . ."

"She probably thought you were serious, you were that convincing," I heard Jasper's voice say from a distance.

"Oh shush," she said, her voice distant and then becoming loud as she moved back to the receiver. "So how long are you going to keep us waiting in this parking lot?"

I snapped the phone shut without replying verbally. Let her make her own opinions about that move. "Come along," I growled, marching past Alexander without looking at him. The danger level wavered just below the orange line now, as I let my back to him. It was a common rule of fact - you don't turn your back on an animal.

In my world, people - or humanoids - were animals.

While walking to the Great Hall, I ranted to him, not bothering to keep my voice low. "I thought they had killed you. Does that bother you at all? What am I supposed to expect when you ditch me like that, without a word, right after you said that the Cullens don't like you? Then they wouldn't talk to me, and they didn't show up at school the next day either. What would I have done if you died? Then my mother has been gone for as long as you have, and now my dad won't show up for my birthday. He thinks a phone call would suffice." I snorted, throwing dagger glares at a pair of cheerleaders who were snickering toward me.

They stopped, their faces turning into pure, stricken fear, and I looked to Alexander. He was glaring murderously at them, the same face he wore whenever someone was harassing me and he couldn't do anything about it. I wondered, for just a second, whether or not he knew just how terrifying he looked, but then he let his face go slack and he ducked it again.

I think one of the girls peed her pants as she grabbed her friend and ducked into the gymnasium.

I decided not to mention that to anyone else, let alone Alexander. "And do you know what Alice is making me do this weekend? I've got a game Saturday. I just can't drop everything for a stupid party - and I was scared."

Alexander gave me a curious look, asking everything without saying anything.

I sighed, then looked back with a start. "Your eyes are a different color." No, to be exact, they were the same exact color as Edward, Bella, Alice - all of them.

He nodded, then continued forward to the main parking lot. "And you're definitely younger," I piped up. "Like, instead of looking in your forties, you look to be in your later teens at least."

I didn't voice the other changes in him either, like the new 'modern' clothing style (all designer brands, by the look of them) or the forced look about him, like he pained him to look relaxed. His hair was shorter too, but still on the longer side. The ends just barely curled up.

He held open the door for a few people coming into the school, and I slid past them. I could see, even from inside the door well, the neon bright yellow porsche sitting idle at the curb. I really thought that those cars had gone out of style by now.

It honked as I made my way to the car, buffering myself away from the wind. Inside the car there was Alice in the driver's seat, and Jasper was in the passenger seat. The stereo system was playing some band I hadn't heard of yet, either because it was too mainstream or too old for me. It sounded as if the people actually had talent, instead of relying on digital enhancing to make their voices sound better than they actually were, or having robots and computers play the notes for them.

"Hey," I said, buckling myself in. Jasper replied back with a nod, while Alice kept her eyes on the road. Definitely miffed that I had hung up on her, she revved the car while Alexander pulled himself in as well and shut the door.

The car took off without much warning, shooting out past the ramp and pulling out into the road in front of a pickup truck before it could get in front of us.

Maybe if I had irritated her enough, I wouldn't have to go to their house tomorrow, not knowing what the heck to expect. I rolled my eyes away from her after a minute had gone by, to the window. The rain ran down it in fine lines, and I snuck a peek to Alexander who sat beside me. He was mimicking me, his chin in hand.

At least I had him back, and he wasn't dead. And on the topic of death, at least I wasn't dead either, yet. My day would have really sucked if Alexander had killed me there in the hall.


	8. Sweet Sixteens are Made of Alexander

**Anyone else feel like their heart has stopped beating? Here's the update. No sane reason to let you guys suffer cause I'm feeling depressed, right? Smiles for everyone!**

**Song for this chapter is The Eurthimycs 'Sweet Dreams are Made of These'. No - not Maraliyn Manson's version either. Pure 80's.**

**Chapter Eight**  
Sweet Sixteens are Made of Alexander

Rain is such a beautiful thing sometimes. It hides tears, it's fun to play in, and it gives life to the earth. In most cases. In other cases, around the modern world, it pours down acid and chemicals in a kind of perverse warfare to kill off harmless civilians and children.

Leave it to humans to take one good thing and ruin it for everyone else. Just so they can have war with each other, on a global level. I'll come right out and admit it - we're in a whole 'nother World War III, and it's not pretty. Issues leading up to this seem to have happened fifty years ago. Most of the people who lived through the horrors and hate are long since dead by now.

The newer generation of the world is just brainwashed and stupid, all thanks to the last generation of people. I understand that people hold grudges, and they are allowed to be angry when someone takes their land, but why, oh why, do I have to be involved? What the hell did I do, aside from being born in the country they hate, to deserve all the hatred spurned by my ancestors.

I've tried talking to Alexander about this, but he's never one for a good talker. My mom probably wouldn't listen to me, and called me an ungrateful, spoiled brat. There was no one else, aside from them, that would listen to a fifteen year old's rants.

Welcome to my world.

When I got home I slammed the door in Alexander's face. He didn't follow me in. Right now, I actually think he's still lurking around in the walkway, getting sopping wet from the rain. It's not like he'll get sick or anything. Superhumans don't get sick just by moping around in the rain.

After I had let Alexander know I was still mad at him, I went downstairs to hide from my mother, if and when she came home. With any luck, she would be home within the hour. I didn't have a job since only sixteen year olds can get jobs anymore, and I honestly had no clue how to pay bills.

Kids of divorced parents are resourceful, more resourceful than other children, so I've noticed. I could list all the details, but I'll spare myself from all the wonderful memories and the feelings they bring up.

While I was down in the basement, I stared at the game room for a while, thinking back to late nights when me and Alexander slaughtered virtual gamers who were probably just ten year olds staying up way past their bed times because they thought it was cool. Then I lurked around the indoor pool for a bit and thought about the possibility that Alexander might want to go swimming later on. I meandered about the rec room and thought how cool it would be if I caught Alexander benching all the weights at once - several tons at least. I looked out the window and thought about how cold the rain looked and how it was not prime weather to be caught in, for fun or because your friend slammed the door in your face because she's angry at you, but not really because she doesn't like being the only person in the world who cares about her.

Through some form of subconscious, I eventually ended up opening up the door and looking for Alexander.

Ever feel really stupid after doing something you thought was right, but your mind was so diluted by feelings that it was actually the worst thing you could do? I had done two things wrong in one day, it seemed. First would be freaking out at my only friend, whether I had thought him imaginary or not, and screaming at him to go away (without _actually_ using words). Second would be giving into the guilt and, without giving it much thought, going outside during a downpour of rain when the temperature was getting cooler and cooler by the hour.

I shivered, rubbing my arms as rain drops fell into my face. "Alex?" He wasn't sulking on the walkway, and he wasn't anywhere in sight from the front door. If anything, the fact that he wasn't waiting for me to open up the door after two hours of being shut out, irritated me. Irrational to think as such, but I still felt the irritation, whether it be aimed towards my selfishness or his impatience.

I hopped from one foot to the other as I called out again, looking around from down in my backyard to the front of the house. I figured out after a couple minutes of searching that Alexander must had given up and gone back to the Cullen's house. They would accept him, right? They wouldn't just leave him out of their house like a forgotten dog. They were more humane than humans, and far more humane than I would be. . .right?

And like all good heroines who realize they've really screwed up big time, for the thousandth time, I cried. Of course the tears blended in well with the rain drops, and I didn't outright wail, it was still a sign of ultimate sadness. Regret, mostly.

I turned away and started for the house, figuring I could give the Cullens a phone call, just to check. The rain was starting to let up a bit, just a bit, so I tried to grapple mentally with the fact that I shouldn't feel too bad. For being a hypocrite and a horrible waste of life, I really wasn't _that_ bad.

Most of all, I realized I missed him. It was like losing your shadow, a long time friend. I think I must have felt like Peter Pan after he lost his. I couldn't fly anymore. Metaphorically speaking, of course (no humans can fly, yet).

"Eve, what are you doing out here?"

I whirled to find Alexander buffeted against the rain, his face a beacon of light in the grey. He looked utterly confused.

"Looking for you," I snapped back, then shrunk against the side of the house. Along the lines of doing stupid things, ever run yourself through a guilt trip at the same time? Pleasant, pleasant memories. "What are _you_ doing out here?"

Alexander started forward, shaking his hair free of water only to have the rain replace it all back. He didn't answer right away, and instead started past me. My first thought was that he was angry at me, but then I figured he was just thinking through his replies like he always did. "I was out in the woods and I heard you calling." He paused at the porch steps. "Is something wrong? Did you find anything?"

I crossed my arms and shivered. "No and no." Why was he worried that I had found something? Silly git, didn't _he_ at least understand that I felt bad? Did I have to spell it out for him? Obviously. "I'm sorry," I said, not sure if he could hear my voice over the rain or not, as I passed him.

His response was quick and fast like lightning. "Oh please. You'd think I'd be upset that you got mad at me?" A normal person would be upset, yeah. I didn't answer, and Alexander sighed. It was a forlorn sound, the sound of the battle trumpets issuing a retreat call. "You're cold, and you need to get inside."

I felt the air rush past me and suddenly Alexander was holding open the door for me. "Thanks," I said as I went through. The door closed itself behind me.

I wrung my pathetic length of hair in the sink when I was situated inside. There was no way I could bring myself to look at Alexander, who leaned against the counter behind me watching, but whether it was out of guilt or embarrassment, I couldn't tell. Probably both.

"You look like a drowned rat."

"Is that for lack of a better analogy? I look like a rat?" I still didn't turn around. One patch of hair was being extremely obstinate in drying out.

"Cat?" There was a pause as I snatched a towel from the counter and ran it over my arms - ShamWOW; it really does dry instantly, you know - then wrapped it around my neck. My clothes stuck to my skin and they only served the make me colder. "Eve, do you want to talk? About anything?"

How about everything? I turned now to see if he was being earnest. "What else is there to do? Play X-box?" Was it just me, or did Alexander physically perk at this idea? I wondered if the Cullens liked playing video games as much as Alexander seemed to. It would be interesting to find out when, and if, I went over there Saturday. "But I think I need to change first." My body shivered without my permission, just to add effect to my words.

Without waiting for his approval on that, I went upstairs to change out of my drenched clothes and into some nice clean and dry ones. While I was up there, I grabbed a fresh towel to dry my hair with.

When I came back down, Alexander was gone from the kitchen. He appeared a second before I could start to panic. There was a bundle of multi-colored wires in his one hand, which I eyed curiously. "I disabled the sensor strips," he explained. Weird how he never had to do that before. "I also erased the memory of the files."

I couldn't see his eyes, he kept his hair in the way, and this irritated me. "It's a right raping law, you know. If 'they' find out, I'll get fined big time. Perhaps be thrown in jail."

"I'll install it back. Eventually." More like, when I and you move out.

"Where were you?" I blurted, my hands curling into fists again.

Alexander put the cables on the counter without looking to me. He would have to hide those before mom came home and saw them. Again, that's insinuating that she would come home in the first place. "You were worried?" I folded my arms and glared. "Your mother isn't home?" I glared some more. He was kidding, right? Joking around? He shifted his weight, almost like he was responding to some remote control or some afterthought he had. Then he went to the stairs leading to the cellar and proceeded down them.

I followed him, mulling over his reluctance to answer. He went to the game room and stood near the single chair, only sitting when I sat down on the couch across from him. I don't think he noticed the oddity in that.

It didn't escape my notice that there was a fuzzy version of me, tears streaming from her eyes, clawing at the corner of my chair. The chair could be seen right through her transparent hands.

The answer to the question still eluded me on that one. When the hell had I changed? What had I done to bring this upon myself?

"Well?" I urged, trying to look and keep forward as best as I could.

Alexander was silent, contemplating the answer to, what at least I thought, a rather easily answered question. "I took a vacation?" He finally looked up to me, strained. So I couldn't handle the truth, could I? "Just outside Germany, in the war zone."

Some vacation. That poor country, and her people, were being torn apart for the third time. They hadn't started the war, and they hadn't even joined up until three months ago. The United States were again trying to play peace keeper, although everyone knew that we would jump on in the last few plays of the game to look like the glorious heroes who had turned the tide of battle.

So what was so important in Germany?

My fingers locked together as I thought all my questions through, and chose one out of all the rest. It out shown them in radiance, the glorious truth that this question just had to reveal. "So, did you have a nice vacation?"

Alexander's face turned down, then he stood and excited the room. I jumped up and followed close behind, panic rising in my throat even though I knew if he really wanted to leave, he would just blue himself out of the house so I couldn't see him leave. "So that's a no? Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to be bitter. I just. . .please don't leave again Alexander, at least without telling me? I mean, you can leave if you like, like always, but don't take a vacation from me for a whole week. It's just. . .you were gone for only three days I think. You know that? Three whole days. I'm really sor-ry. . .?" We had abruptly stopped outside my downstairs bathroom, on the other side of the basement.

Alexander threw me a confused look. "May you please stand out here," he asked. I nodded in compliance and he disappeared behind the wooden slab of a door.

In the fifteen or so seconds that he was gone from view, my mind raced. What could anyone looking into this situation think or say? Not that I really cared what they think, honestly, I was just curious what this situation looked like from the outside looking in? Also, was Alexander going to come out changed somehow, when he came back out from the laundry/bathroom? Did he have to use the bathroom? Was there something in there that I wasn't supposed to see? Was he getting the laundry, for whatever reason he saw fit for that?

The door opened and Alexander was there, perfectly fine (better than perfect actually) and normal, only with something cradled in his arm. I couldn't quite see what it was - his fabric was still wet thus making it darker and it camouflaged the thing. "Not really, to answer your question," he said, looking at the crook of his arm. "I visited an acquaintance there." He looked awkward again as he shifted his weight to grab the thing with his two hands. "Happy Birthday Eve?"

How could someone be angry, even remotely, at, not one, but two puppy dog pout faces? Alexander looked like he was expecting me to scream at him, or try to smack the puppy away from me. The actual puppy. . .well, damn, the poor thing just looked hungry. Or tired, I rethought, as it yawned, its pink tongue curling back and its white needle teeth revealed for but a second.

Yet all I did was stand there, possibly looking stupid. Very stupid. So Alexander launched into some very flustered talking. "She's already well trained and I can help teach you the commands. Or, she's still young, and you can teach her some word commands instead. It all has something to do with select breeding, or so he said. Don't really understand it myself."

While he talked himself dizzy using more words I had ever heard Alexander speak in his life, I looked over the puppy. So, it was a girl dog. There was a sort of puppy roundness about her, which only served to make her more adorable to the human eye. She was the kind of puppy guys got so girls would fawn all over it and tell him how cute it was.

Her fur was also ink black, on the longer side, and there were white and brown accents to her face, muzzle, paws, chest, and tail. The tail was tucked in between her hind legs, and her eyes were the color of dirt without much depth to them.

She was just a normal dog then - no super crazy powers like Krypto or Underdog. I let myself have an inner relief sigh before I took her from Alexander, stopping his nervous rant right there and then. Truth be told, I hadn't heard anything past training her and select breeding.

The puppy immediately licked my chin and whined when I brought her close. I craned my neck away from her just out of normal human response to being licked.

Great thing about dogs - they really and truly don't judge people. They don't have a single judgmental cell in their body, at least, nothing like cats do.

"How old?" I asked.

"She's just started eating solids."

I nodded. Hard to believe she was trained fully at that age. Some miracle worker this acquaintance must be, since I'd assume that's where Alexander got her. "No name?"

Alexander visible relaxed now, seeing he had passed some sort of test of mine. Silly fool.

Seeing the whole puppy situation was done, I went back to the game room, sitting on the sofa. The puppy wobbled around when I let her go, and then she laid down with a yawn. "Hey you." She didn't even twitch. "Psst." Nope, no response there either. "I'm talkin' to you." Obviously, I wasn't. "How about. . .Cinder? Shadow? Shade? Mud? Ghost? Nah, that one feels cruel. Gin? Sin? Rin? Spyro, the Dragon? Silence? Howl?"

Puppy-yet-to-be-named didn't give a preference to any name I suggested. Before I could finalize anything Alexander came into the room and gave a low whistle. It sounded like wind, but drove the puppy crazy. Puppy-yet-to-be-named started and bolted right up, tail flopping on the ground.

"No way. Jerk." I did my best to pout and glower at Alexander as he rewarded the puppy with praise for listening to him instead of me. I failed epically.

I watched him interact with her. "So, what kind of dog is she? A Rottie?"

Alexander shook his head, his hand running down her back, the other scratching her behind the ear. "A setter mix."

"Ah, like English, Gordon, and Irish?" Alexander only nodded in reply, then stood once more. We watched Puppy-yet-to-be-named until she laid back down, circling the area once. I blamed this lazy behavior on jet lag, and it was something I would have to either deal with or break.

"I liked the last name you mentioned," Alexander said after a silent minute had gone by.

"Howl?" Why had I said that name? Was it because of the irony in it, that she wasn't making any sound at all, let alone was she howling.

"But don't let me decide. She's yours. If you really don't mind her."

If I hadn't had such a paranoia to how Alexander would react, like throwing me down with a snarl, I would have thrown myself at him and given him a huge hug. Instead, I downplayed what I wanted to do greatly. "Of course. Thanks. Best present ever." I smiled up to him, and the strangest look came over his face. Like he was having a heart attack or something, like all those people in those silly medical dramas on Tv. "You know, even though it's a day early and all," I continued, looking back to Howl, the smile running away.

Alexander moved to sit near the couch, then he sat and leaned forward, his fingers folded across his mouth. He stared intently at the dog, making no noise to at least infer that he had heard me speak, so I watched him.

I'm honestly not sure how many minutes ticked by. Alexander seemed lost in his thoughts so much that he didn't seem to notice the water dripping from his hair into his face. But I did, and it bother me.

"I'll be right back," I said while standing up to leave. He didn't even move in response. Not a twitch, nor a flinch. I came back in after hesitating by the door way, just to see if he would look up, but he didn't. So I threw the towel at him and huffed back into my seat.

He stared at me, surprised, the consciousness flooding back into his eyes, and inwardly I relaxed. He was sitting impossibly still, like 'The Thinker' or something. Made me want to pull my hair out. "Do you just want to talk and explain things through for me, or should we play a game of fast twenty?"

Fast twenty is where you ask twenty questions about what the person is thinking, and if you ask and guess correctly in less than two minutes, you win. It's a rather silly game.

"Oh," was all he said.

I waited some more, but that seemed to be his only input. I exhaled sharply and leaned forward near him. It must have been my imagination that he inched back somewhat. Fast twenty it was, then. "Okay. What significance is the eye color?"

His response was immediate. How uncharacteristic of him. "Unless you want me to explain _what_ we are, I can tell you nothing of that."

"Shoot. Still, does it have anything to deal with age?" He shook his head. "Magic, like in the Woldgrigs?"

"Woldgrigs?"

I sighed. "Time out to explain. The Woldgrigs are a lot like that silly fad years back, with that wizard who went to school and fought off the evil Voldemorte. Except they don't use wands and they're a family of wizards and witches - oh, and their eyes change color when they use their magic."

"No - I'm not a magician."

Should I be ashamed to think that maybe, for once, I was getting hot onto what Alexander really was? Nah, magic was a good guess. A might bit obvious (obviously wrong) but a good guess all the same.

Meanwhile, Alexander took the towel from where it had flopped on his shoulder, and ran it through his hair. "You're up to three."

"And you have one. Game." I took a deep breath and fired off another. "Do they change according to weather?"

"No. Are you going to drop this question now? You'll never guess."

I puffed my cheeks out and Alexander offered the slightest, slight of smiles. How cute he looked, his hair all tousled and damp. But I would guess right eventually. "Do you not like the sun?"

"I love the sun."

"Dammit Alexander. You're no help. Do the Cullens not like the sun?"

I can't speak for them. Please ask something else, Eve."

I chewed my bottom lip. Two minutes had to be up by now, but then again I was never actually playing the game in the first place. I just wanted to know more about Alexander.

Why? Why did I need to know about him so much? What was this desire?

At the time, I honestly didn't know.

"Eve?"

"Do you hate blood? How can you smell it? Does the smell of it make you nauseous? What's so important in Europe?" I went to take a breath, but Alexander jumped in.

"Stop and hold on. I refuse to answer the first three, and I have family in Germany. They move around often, so they took me a while to find them this time. I am sorry for leaving like that; I wasn't aware that I would be away for so long, or that I would pick up your gift there either. It is clear that I did not think that action through."

Alexander was talking a lot again. It was making my head swim.

While I gathered my few and far between sense again, Alexander looked to Howl and dropped the towel on her. She didn't move one bit. "Stupid dog," I muttered.

I guess Alexander felt bad, looking at Howl underneath that damp and cold towel, because he immediately took the towel off of her, folded it, and draped it over the arm chair. "Out of questions?"

It was that transparent that I was stumped, huh? There was one more, however. "Well. . .explain why you're younger."

"I have no idea. You said that earlier I was in my forties." How good, he remembered. "Have I always looked older to you?"

"Yes?"

"In my forty-somethings?"

"Yes. . .?"

"And that never bothered you?" Alexander looked shocked, horrified more like it.

I made a face. "I told you - I always figured you never actually existed. I thought I just hallucinated the whole 'you' thing." Plus, looking back on it, the only physical contact I ever had with Alexander was that one time in the library, and Hell, if he considered that to be sexual in any way I was in deep trouble if I wanted to hug him in thanks. Then again, how could I know what he was really thinking at that time either? Alexander could be a pedophile and he was just trying to keep me safe from himself, but I never felt threatened by him and he never made me do anything that I didn't want to do. Now if Alexander was always this young, at this age. . .how was I supposed to feel? How would society dictate how I should feel at hearing this? Was I supposed to be freaked out, over Alexander's age?

My father was my father and he couldn't be trusted. Alexander had never done a single thing harmful to me, ever. A stray piggy back ride thrown in every once in a while, but I never felt in danger. Just sick. And I knew just how my peers would react to knowing that Alexander had been my shadow since I was young - ew, gross! Don't you feel weird now?

My fists tightened. "No." I nearly shouted it, and I was more answering myself than Alexander. Plus, he would have heard me if I mouthed it. "No, I'm not being bothered. No, I am not 'creeped' out. And no, I refuse to make a simple friendship awkward." I rounded on him, the blood pounding in my ears and making them burn. "Now if you don't want to tell me what you know, why the Cullens can't come out during the sun, why blood bothers you, or why the hell your eyes have changed color, fine! But I'll be damned if you don't answer me now."

Alexander seemed to have shrunk back into the couch, his eyes wide and watching. "What?" he mouthed, seemingly afraid the slightest sound might set me off. Hey, you never did know, you know?

"What stupid video game do you want to play!"

About halfway through that tirade I had stood up and stormed over to the game cabinet that housed the console. My voice elevated an octave higher and the words hold stuck in my throat, crackling when they hit the air, near the end. Stupid vocal cords.

I yanked the door open with gusto. "Power on," I commanded. In my mind I dared my voice to make me look even more stupid. The X-box hummed to life, as did the rest of the system, the lime green power strip glowing with its unearthly light.

"Eve." I whirled, still crouched, then gasped. An older, much older, Alexander stood behind me, looking down on me, with his hands in his pockets and his face set sternly in stone. Then, suddenly, he was young again. Nothing about him changed except for how old he looked; he still wore the same clothes, the same expression, and the same stance.

I fell back on my butt. "Whoa. What did you do?"

Alexander walked over to the TV screen, which was now showing a long list of the games that he had bought using my dad's money. He liked playing them all, and normally finished them within a couple of days, if not hours. He tapped one option lightly, and the screened flashed white. He tapped it again to confirm the choice.

"All of us have heightened abilities. You've seen them in action before now, I will assume." I nodded. "To put mine in simplistic terms, I cast the illusion on most people's minds that I am not there. To them, as long as I will it, I am invisible."

"It never worked on me," I mumbled.

"Wrong." I jerked my head up violently. Alexander stood there, watching the game menu screen. The looked like a lot of explosions and guns. Kicking it old skool with Halo. Nice choice. "It is correct to say that it does not work on Bella. Then again, no powers that rely on her mind works on her. She is shielded. That is her talent. I just proved that I have some effect on you, though it is not the same effect I may have on everyone else. Still, it works in that I change, however that may be."

"Weird."

"Right?" He gave me a look and a quick flash of a smile. Then he was back to staring intently at the game screen.

I watched him for a moment, then stood. "So my brain is broken?"

"No. It is different." He took a step back, eyes glued to the screen. His fascination to that screen astounds me, really. "Eve, I'm not very smart in ways about the world. I don't know how things work, why they work, how to do complicated math problems or anything of the like. I don't claim to know any of that either. I never spent my spare time reading books with pages filled with information like Carlisle, nor do I practice music like Edward, or cars like Rosalie, or sports, or anything. I know you said you didn't want to know what we were, but that's what I know best."

"What?" Not only was I only listening to Alexander's voice move up and down, varying from word to word, syllable to syllable, I was still hung up on Rosalie working with cars. The girl was strange all right.

"If the Cullens give you any problems tomorrow, you will tell me." I jumped. Was that a hint of menace in Alexander's tone?

My heart also skipped a beat. "You mean you're not going? They still don't like you?"

Alexander sat down on the couch, eyes finally prying away from the screen. He looked to me, and I saw in the glow of the light that his eyes held just a trace of red, like a warm mix of tawny and crimson colors. "You want me to go?"

"Of course! I was banking on you being there in the first place." I threw a controller at him. "Shut up and play."

"I'll let you win. For your birthday," he said with a smirk as I flopped down on the couch next to him.

_30 Minutes Later_

"You are _not_ letting me win! You just blew up Caboose."

"Oh, he's on your team?"

I couldn't risk glaring at him and looking away from the screen. Every second counted, and I needed to be prepared to rescue any of my team mates if Alexander came a prowling into our territory. They were all AI, computer generated characters I had made in likeness of an old, geeky Halo classic, Red vs. Blue. And they only were allowed to respawn three times before they never came back at all.

"I thought you had a handicap," I muttered, angling the camera so I could see around the corner. Nothing there.

Alexander said nothing, so I hissed at him. "Jerk." Another couple of minutes and the message popped up onto the screen that Church was dead. There was no five on one.

"I haven't touched you. It's just your team mates I'm shooting." Another message fired up that another player was down - this time it was Caboose again.

Alexander's reflexes were just too fast for me. To say that it was an unfair advantage was an understatement.

"I'm gonna start using cheats and hacks if I can't kill you fairly."

"You never kill me fairly," he said back. I stole a glance to see him looking only at the screen. I'd show him.

Another fifteen minutes ticked by and I only had another two more fodder to spare, each with only one life left to spend. Okay, yeah. I'll admit that I'm horrible when it comes to protecting people in games. I've always hated missions like that. Then again, what gamer liked transport missions and the missions where you had to protect the weak from the monster sitting beside you on the couch who happened to have mad skills.

"You know, when you said that you were going to let me win, why couldn't you have just made it quick and painless for yourself?"

"That is no fun."

I exhaled through my nose sharply. "Of course it isn't. It's no fun to just - Oh!" I tapped the blue button while Alexander swore slightly. I had just happened across him in a sole hall way. I loved having the maps turned off - it gave you more opportunity to sneak up on people. "Gotcha," I cried as Alexander's virtual body slumped to the ground.

I relaxed with a sigh as the victory words flashed on screen. "Any other games you want to play?"

Alexander sat there, his face all aglow from the inside out. "No." He started cleaning up, taking the controller from me, and I yawned, stretching out across the sofa.

"But I want to watch you play some games. Your more interesting than anything on Tv." Alexander looked back from shutting down the games. I closed my eyes, not really pushing the issue. I didn't trust the Tv on while I was sleeping; you couldn't tell what it was doing to your mind while it slept. "Thanks for letting me win a game for once," I mumbled, more into the sofa than the air.

"You did catch me by surprise."

"But if you hadn't promised not to kill me, you would have won. I know you would have won."

"Maybe." I heard a new game start up and Alexander sitting down. Then he seemed to get up again, and a few seconds later a blanket was being tucked in around me. Next, a warm mass of furry was being gently laid into my stomach. I put my arm over Howl, who didn't seem to mind either way where she slept, floor or couch. Alexander was teaching my new dog bad manners. "Are you watching or sleeping?"

"What time is it?"

"A little after eight."

My eyes opened once more. "Watching then," I said through a yawn. I watched Alexander take on a place called the Arena in one gam, fight off the undead solo in another, and fight demons with a green glass sword in the last roleplay game. I woke Howl up one time by crying out when Alexander was surrounded by enemies in the zombie survivor game and his health got dangerously low, but otherwise I was a silent watcher. He was a silent player.

I fell asleep as Alexander was entering the final stage of a dungeon. The last thing I saw was the loading screen, so I probably missed out on the boss battle. I don't think he noticed or minded much.

**Sorry I didn't edit this. I was rushed on getting it out.**


	9. A Very Merry Unbirthday

**Well, I'm sorry to say, but that took forever! That? Oh, that would be my school's musical which I tried out for, thinking I could balance both the fanfic and getting the music down perfectly. I was in the pit, playing viola, so it wasn't that hard - really it was just more time consuming than I would have liked. It was Fiddler, by the way. Great movie, so you should all go see it if you haven't yet. A classic.**

**I'm feeling a little better mood wise, if anyone cares to note. High school drama and what not. It really wasn't all **_**that**_** serious I believe. Still...is it good for the heart to feel like it's numb? Really?**

**This chapter's song? Drat - I really didn't listen to anything while typing this, but I have to say, Black Sabbath's 'Iron Man' is pretty appealing. Go give that a check out as well. ^_^ I love Iron Man.**

**Enough chat. On with the show!**

**Chapter Nine**  
A Very Happy Unbirthday

I ran my fingers through the fur of Howl's ear, untangling the knots I felt. Alexander had her out running earlier, and while we were out, he had taught me some of those whistle command things. For example; low to high meant come, low once meant down, and high once meant stay. There were a couple that involved whistling with your teeth, which was just another talent I had to work on.

Then again, I was already trying out the old plain and true word commands and found they were going along just as well as the whistles. Training might just be one thing I don't have to worry about with Howl. Mom's reaction when she sees the new dog was a totally different matter, however, and I would play that issue by ear when it came to hand.

Cold stones pried my fingers away from Howl, who was then shooed away to the floor. I looked up, startled and wide eyed, only to find that it was Alice. "You're ruining your nails," she grumbled, going around to my back where she had come from.

I spread my fingers and studied my nails, suddenly reminded of what I had been going through for the past hour or two. Alice had turned out to be the kind of person who thought dressing people up and making them stand out in a crowd was considered a 'fun' past time. There was nothing wrong with that sort of mind set - it actually rather suited her - but I didn't want to stand out or attract the attention of people. If I didn't recall correctly, me attracting attention to myself was the sole reason I was in the mess I was in, if you could truly call it that.

I wiggled my fingers and they flashed in the light of the living room, a blinding red, like fresh blood. Too flashy for my tastes, and I'd have to take them off before school on Monday. Perhaps sooner if Alice had other plans for Sunday on top of all this.

Plus, Alice had scrubbed all the ink off my skin, though, they weren't really important notes. Most of what I drew were drawings and doodles. Nothing damaging to my health or revealing that I had deeper psychological problems. My arms were red and burned from the scrubber she had used, although she said she had gone gentle.

It was all supposed to be relaxing, but I wasn't the kind of person who would enjoy being put through torment so someone else could be happy. Gosh darn, if this house didn't have free party food and such a bland atmosphere, why I'd . . . I'd . . .

Stay, naturally. I had nothing better to do.

Well, better could be doing laps in my pool, working out, eating, moping, or talking to Alexander, all of which were actions I did on a normal basis. While I thought about all the things I could be doing somewhere else, Alice had gone back to playing with my hair. I quickly became bored with simply sitting there, and decided to look around, trying my best not to move my head too much. I could trust Alice only so far with a pair of scissors in her impatient hands so close to my head.

There were several things going on about the room that could hold my attention for the next ten minutes, easily. Oh, like the fact Jacob was a giant wolf. I'd rather not remember the reaction to finding out _that_ little detail, but supposedly my facial expression had been one of such horror that one of Bella's family members, Emmett I believe his name was, thought it appropriate to laugh at me. Still, passing over the first initial thoughts about the situation, Jake was actually a pretty cool kid.

Nessie was on his back, pulling and tugging on her ears while Howl pounced and jumped about with his tail, barking occasionally. No one but Rosalie seemed to mind, and I was through paying attention to her.

There was a sort of war going on in one corner featuring Alexander on one side, and the giant bear of a kid, Emmett, on the other. Jasper and Edward sat on the sidelines nearby, supervising more than spectate. Supposedly, shortly after I had walked in on the giant wolf-boy (as if that wasn't bad enough, Bella explained who the giant wolf was immediately after) Emmett and Alexander had created a bet that Alexander could humiliate Emmett in a game of chess. So far, Emmett was losing, though I wasn't sure how badly, yet.

Meanwhile, where I couldn't see but only hear, Esme was making some noise in the kitchen while Rosalie complained openly to her about me, of all people to complain about.

I liked Esme. She was like a classic mother, with her soft features and hair and voice, and with her gentle maternal eyes that showed the very warmth of her soul. I felt cheesy thinking about her, but it was the truth. I wish I had a mother like Esme, and when I had initially thought this, Edward had made a comment about how they were all spoiled to have her there in their family. I'd take his word for it.

Rosalie, however . . . Well, like I said, she didn't seem to approve of anything that I did around her. Not even Howl was spared. I hadn't stepped foot in the house - already scared out of my mind, Alexander having pep talked me all the way to the front step - and she had looked down her sculpted nose at me and gave me the coldest shoulder I had ever felt because there was true hate in it. And all I had done was let my jaw drop in amazement at her very essence, whether it was a hate filled essence or not, because she was very beautiful. Rosalie was the Helen of Troy, except Rosalie's face would have launched a new nuclear war if it was up for bids.

Edward told me not to worry about her attitude problem though. He said that she was only jumping to conclusions on some obscure topic he wouldn't explain, and that he would sort it out himself in due time. Another thing I'd taken to simply taking his word for.

Such a nice guy.

Alice seemed to had noticed my looking around and started talking. I became very still at the sound of her voice, though logically I couldn't explain why. "I'm sorry it isn't much, though I didn't know who else to invite if anyone at all. Really, I just wanted an excuse to get to know you better." A slip of yellow hair fell down past my vision. "I get the feeling that we'll be friends in no time. Right Bella?"

"You won't catch me betting against you Alice." I couldn't see either of them, they were too far back for me to see them, but I could tell that they were both smiling, it was so tangible in their voices. My insides became all warm and fuzzy at the sound of their words though, their friendship and their closeness. I wanted something like that in my life, and if they were promising it, I was afraid I was going to buy into it without much thought.

"No!" I looked up, startled, to find Emmett glaring at Alexander, standing over the game, his fists tight at his sides. I feared for Alexander's life, but everyone else seemed light about the outburst, even Alexander was smiling in the slightest. He had won the bet, whatever it entailed.

"I told him so. He didn't stand a chance. Maybe Jasper would - now that would be a match to see - but Emmett is just a joke to him." Alice couldn't have been talking about Alexander, could she? Well, obviously, she had to have been, but that meant that Alexander was some sort of tactician, which made sense since he had come from the government. That also implied that Jasper was one as well, if they could be so evenly matched in the game.

I watched as Emmett made claims of cheating at Alexander, who denied it vehemently, which Edward then backed the honesty of. I kept watching as Emmett threw a slight tantrum, then stormed away. Howl barked at him once before taking Jake's tail up in her mouth and tugging on it. As he passed by where I sat, I thought I heard him mutter something about how Alexander had taken the fun out of the game 'just like Ed had', but beyond that it was intelligible mutter.

Another slips of hair fell down past my vision, distracting me from thinking about how much fun it would be to face off against someone who knew your moves and could react with thoughts you yourself couldn't hear. I figured it would be so much of a challenge that it wasn't actually any fun at all.

"How much hair are you chopping off Alice?"

I went to dodge away from her, but her swift hand caught me before I had even moved, keeping me where I sat. "I'm almost done. I'm only layering it now, and I am not 'chopping it all off'." Sure enough, a couple more snips of the scissors and Alice was standing in front of me, studying her work with a hand on her hip. She spun the scissors idly by their handles with her free hand. "You know, I wonder what you would look like with longer hair."

Before I could reply that I had my hair longer when I was young, she shook her head and placed the scissors on the table. "It looks better short. When this grows out more, it'll look even better. Mirror?"

I seemed to forget everyone else in the room as a lifted a hand, worry taking a tight hold in my chest as I felt my hair. It was just to the tips of my ears, bangs swept to one side in a look that was out of fashion for whatever reason. "No," I breathed, letting my hand drop. I wouldn't like what I saw, no matter what it was.

Alice huffed. "And why not? You look wonderful, beautiful. It frames your face nicely I think."

I bit my lip. That was what I had been afraid of. It was strange how I knew that I was, in many certain ways, appealing to the eyes, but never wanted to use that beauty. Best not to think of it then and just let things work out the way that they were. Maybe everything and everyone's opinions of me had changed all in one night. That would certainly be the best birthday present I could ever receive.

"Thank you Alice," I said, standing. She had removed the towel that she had used to keep the hair separated from me, and was working on cleaning up around the room.

Alice seemed a bit agitated at me for not wanting to accept her hand mirror. "Upstairs. I'm not done with you yet." I paled. What? Why not? Wasn't a hair cut enough? She looked up, smiling with those white, flawless teeth that made my stomach tie itself into knots. "Relax. You don't have to go up if you don't want to."

I turned and started out of the room, only pausing when I thought I saw Alexander looking at me. His head was ducked back down to the game, his expression perplexed and confused at his own thoughts. It looked like he was pondering about how and why he had won the game, but I felt it was something more than that as I walked away to the upstairs, doing something on impulse rather than thought. What he was thinking about, however, I didn't want to know.

Emmett had said something odd earlier on in the night. About how this was a party that might actually go off without a hitch, unlike the second to last one that they had all thrown. By the way the room had grown, mood wise, he was just referring to something else I didn't want to know. Jasper's mood seemed to decrease the most out of all of them.

I pretended I hadn't heard, at the time, but now, looking over the cases of the DVD's in front of me, my mind went back to it. Well, what had happened during a birthday party that the Cullens had thrown? Who had it been thrown for? Why in the world had they thrown a party after that one, if it was so bad? Unless, it wasn't actually bad.

I shook my head, my new haircut whipping about my face. I did it again, liking how that felt against my skin. I had eaten the food Esme had prepared for us with more vigor than I realized I had. My game from earlier in the day (which my team had won masterfully) had tired me out so much so that I didn't even notice I had missed both breakfast and lunch. It was so nice to have someone make me something for once, especially since she had put so much time and effort into it.

Well, actually, I'll assume she put effort into it because it tasted so good. It could have just been a rather time consuming Tv meal that she made look really good.

I picked out a DVD with rather interesting cover art, then immediately put it back once I read the plot synopsis. It wasn't like DVDs were terribly outdated or anything, it was just that everything anymore was downloaded from the online archive to your touch screen TV.

Now the VHS tapes - _those_ were impressive. I picked one up, gingerly because it had to be at least sixty years old.

Someone kneeled down beside me, but I didn't turn around to place them. "We've had to replace a lot of those. The tape is so old, it gets rotted in some sections, or loses its magnetism in others so the movie doesn't play right," Bella said.

"I would imagine," was my mumbled response, but I really had no idea what she was talking about. It was like those old one track record players. No one knew how or why they had worked anymore, or, at least, no one my age knew, let alone cared.

I ran my fingers down the spine of one of the cases, replacing the VHS back into its spot. The words read Blade Runner, and Harrison Ford looked like the only major actor in that one. There was another DVD that read My Fair Lady, the musical. The original, Pigmalion, I placed just a few seconds of searching. The movie Hackers, The Matrix series, a tons load of flashy, but classic musicals, and, oddly enough, the High School Musical series.

That one looked particularly dangerous, so I avoided it with utmost care.

Instead, I fished out a musical called Fiddler on the Roof, which I had heard had just been taken off Broadway after so many years of it playing there. I had never seen it, but I assumed, like most older things were, it was of high quality. That movie got put back into its place though and I automatically pulled out another. They were just so. . .so. . .interesting and old.

The Sixth Sense was a movie I had learned to hate over the years of my life. The whole 'I see dead people' line was going to haunt me for a lifetime. I slammed it back into place and started looking for another movie to investigate.

All the while, Bella watched me in silence, and I had almost forgotten that she was sitting there. Then, after I had picked out about six DVDS and two VHS, putting them all back after I had read the back cover, she spoke in that happy, musical voice of her's. "We can put one on, if you'd like. And I'm sure no one else would mind if you borrowed a couple." She leaned in next to me, scanning over the DVDs herself. "I only ask that you don't pick anything too scary or mature. She's older than she looks, but Nessie gets nightmares rather easily, and I'd like to avoid that if I can."

"Of course," I agreed, although I really had no idea what most of these movies were about. I knew anything with the word 'alien' or 'predator' was out of the question. Seven looked way too creepy for me. A couple foreign films stood out in my mind (the word art for both Spiral and The Grudge were cool looking) but then they too didn't look like they were pleasant dream inducing movies.

But one really caught my eye, mainly because it featured my new dog's name. Howl's Moving Castle. Okay, it was another Japanese film, but it was, you know, cartoony. So that was my final choice.

Turns out it was about a girl named Sophie who gets cursed by a witch, and then she leaves her hat shop to go and find a wizard named Howl who may or may not help her. Then she gets a job cleaning, gets caught in the middle of a war, makes friends with a (powerful) fire demon named Calcifer, and ends up getting Howl in the end. Oh, the adventures of a young hat shop worker girl.

Not five minutes into the movie, after everyone had simultaneously settled down to watch it, I was being served cake by Esme. I flushed a little when she offered to give some icing to Howl, and Alexander's expression turned horrified when I said sure.

Despite being crammed between two freezing super humans, with a wolf the size of a horse curled up at my feet, and the fact that I felt very awkward being one of four out of nine people in the room capable of eating food, the movie was pretty good. An excellent choice, as I may put it.

As the ending credits were rolling, I stretched and yawned. By this time it had to be around nine, nine-thirty even. The rest of the afternoon had gone by so quickly, I hadn't even noticed how fast it had gone by. That might have had something to do with Alice stuffing me into a walk-in closet and forcing me to try on fifty different outfits in ten minutes, but it was still. . .fun.

And here I had spent half of the week worrying about what was going to happen.

I stood, speaking with Alexander, reflecting about the movie, when Edward passed me, smiling slightly. "Eve?" I glanced up to him, cutting off my sentence. "You know, the night is still young." What was that supposed to mean? He ducked into the typically unused kitchen before I could snap at him out of confusion.

We followed him, but he was already gone, presumably, up the stairs to put Nessie to sleep. What a weird name, by the way. Nessie.

"I need to get home." I raised my voice, leaning into the stairwell. "As young as the night may be." Alexander looked to the stairs, but kept quiet otherwise.

"Oh, Eve, wait." I turned to Bella, stifling a yawn. I started when I saw she was carrying a cardboard box filled with DVD cases. "You can play these at your house, right?"

I shook my head. "I mean, yeah. The X-box should take it."

"And I can rig up a DVD player if it doesn't," Alexander chimed in, his voice ever so soft.

I glared at Alexander before turning back to Bella. "I can't take these."

Alice came dancing around the corner as Bella's vibrant face fell and I felt my heartstrings pulled and strained. "She'll take them. Just keep pouting Bella. And Alexander? I need to talk to you."

Alexander followed Alice, face blank and emotionless as far as I could read, back into the living room. He passed by me without even looking at me. My heart leapt to my throat in fear.

Bella came in closer to me, pretending to be preoccupied with the box. She showed the contents to me, forehead creased to show that she was troubled again. "I took note of the ones you were looking at and figured you would want to watch them, but only if you'd like." I looked into the box, scrounging a bit for one title.

There were many titles in the box, all DVDs and some of which I hadn't physically pulled out of the drawer. There was no High School Musical among them, thankfully. "All right. Thanks Bella, I'll take them."

Bella smiled, then whispered in my ear as she placed the DVDs onto the counter with a bang. I froze, instinctively knowing that Bella's mouth was entirely too close to my skin. "Do you want to hear what they're saying? Go one, but be as quiet as you can - I've got you covered." Her words came out almost too fast for me to catch them, but I got the gist.

I pulled away, confused, but Bella only winked and smiled that breath taking smile of her's. She motioned with her hand, then turned away from me. "When should I return them by?"

My mouth dropped. Her voice sounded exactly like mine. She waved me on as she spun around and replied to her own question, her voice her own. "Whenever you're done watching them. They're getting no use just sitting around here."

I shook myself and snuck to the corner of the room, promising I would ask Alexander about what had just happened later on tonight, though I probably wouldn't gather up the courage to ask. I was just close enough that I could make out their whispered voices.

Jake padded by, distracting me for a second. He looked from me, then to Bella - who was still carrying on a conversation with herself - then finally made some odd coughing noise in the back of his throat before walking away into the kitchen.

I watched him a second before turning back to my attempt to listen. The voice talking sounded too high to be Alexander, but I couldn't exactly tell if it was Alice either. The whispers were too fast and low. Then, quite suddenly, they got loud enough for me to make out what they were saying. "So, you see, that's not a problem at this point at all. Rose will leave her alone when we both Edward and I tell her to. But, Alexander, I just have one tiny little question." Shoot. I had missed some vital information in that first part, but this was still interesting. It proved that Rosalie did indeed have it out for me, and Edward and Alice were on my side. How nice.

"You aren't much of a talker," Alice laughed, her voice still low. I leaned even closer into the living room wall, desperate to hear everything. "Alex, do you have a brother or do you know a young child that might come visit you sometime?" Without pause, she continued, even though I hadn't heard Alexander's reply. "I see. Well, keep a watch out. Whomever it is will definitely be coming, though I don't know any details, like what persuaded him to make such a rash decision or when he'll be coming at all. It's rather aggravating, so anything you might have for me. . .?"

"Thank you Alice. I'll be taking Eve home now."

Meanwhile, my heart had stopped beating. There was a little Alexander? A brother? Or was it just a friend of his, come back from the past to haunt him? Well, shoot, I didn't know. Alexander never talked about his family, just about his job and even that was a scarcity.

I jumped up and hurriedly sat down at a chair, facing Bella. She was still talking to herself, supposedly about this one movie she was holding up for me, smiling while she spoke. I nodded. "It sounds good," I said, breathless. "I'll take them then."

I stood while Alexander came into the room, Alice dancing in behind him. I took the box from Bella, then started for the door. I thought I heard Alice behind me say something along the lines of 'I told you so', before ascending the stairs herself. "See you Monday, Eve," she called.

"Sure. You too Bella," I said, nodding to her. "Thanks again. You know, for the DVDs."

Bella only smiled and went up the stairs herself, winking at me. I flushed and practically ran to the door. Alexander held it open for me, then as I tried to get through, took the box from me as well. I looked back just in time to see that Edward and Bella were already in the doorway, waving goodbye. Alexander nodded, formally, and walked with me up the driveway.

It was a rather rushed ending to the day, but all I could think of was Alexander. He had a brother. That was coming home. Or not home really, but to Alexander. Why hadn't he told me this personally, beforehand?

Happy Birthday, me. A very happy birthday.

**I feel like I have to explain something, just in case it confused anyone. I was pretty sure that in New Moon, Alice managed to imitate Edward's voice** **to perfection, so much so that it hurt her. Well, I just assumed that they could mimic voices, so now Bella gave it a whirl with Eve. Now, now, I'll say they didn't get away with it just yet, but that's my line of thinking there. If you want the page number, it's in New Moon, page 384. Whoo.**


	10. The Spring Creeps Upon us

1**Ummm....heh. There's no excuse this time other than laziness. It'd be really cool if you guys kept on reading even after I've neglected you guys like this. Nothing new except that I went to Otakon and had my 16****th**** birthday party on the 25****th****, but I don't turn 16 until the 31****st****.**

**I'll be working on this. Promise I will. Aside from my journal that I put on gaia, I've got nothing else to really do except for youtube videos and such for a long while...but I've only got a month left to upload stuff anyway. I'm apologizing to you guys in every update I think. And before anyone asks or points out, I can definitely juggle two stories, I just...don't feel like it? If that makes any sense. I know I can finish this series, I just gotta keep myself motivated enough for it.**

**By the way, my iPod is broken. It has been for three months, but we got it repaired only to start it up and find that they didn't fix the problem at all. 0.0 What I'm trying to say is I don't have a song this update that goes to the chapter at all because I haven't been listening to music for my bus rides, so I'm posting what I'm listening to now on my radio.**

'**500 Miles' by The Proclaimers.**

**Chapter Ten**

The Spring Creeps Upon Us

I think my favorite time of the year is spring. Each season has its own personal appeal though, if you think about it. I really do have too much time on my hands.

Winter seems long, and the chilly moonlit nights seem to have a sort of romantic quality to it. When it snows, the few moments after everything has settled is so peaceful - you can walk outside and hear how quiet and muted everything becomes with even a fine layering of snow on it. No cars pass by on the roads for hours until the plows come by to spew grey mud across the landscape. This includes my school bus. Of course, there's my favorite holiday in the winter season too. And there's ice during winter. Lots and lots of ice and storms that freezes the world and turns it to crystal.

Fall is beautiful, although it's my least favorite, but I still have to appreciate it. The leaves are changing colors, and the ground is transformed into a carpet of crisp leaves. Doesn't bother me that I have yard work to do by raking them all up into piles and bagging them. Alexander normally helps with this, and maybe having him around taints my view on the situation of work. I enjoy that part a lot until it rains, and all those leaves turn to muck. Halloween was never a fun time for me either since most the kids like seeking out my house to heave pumpkins and eggs across the yard. Again, Alexander fixes this problem for me most years, but it's the thought that counts.

Summer is a given, naturally. Everything becomes so green and vibrant, compared to winter and fall where things are dying or dead. Long days all alone in the house (technically) with nothing to look forward to but just another day. School would have to wait for three months to bother me again, and I wouldn't have to put up with all those people and all those images. I'd pass most of my summers by hiding indoors and playing video games with Alexander in the air conditioned basement until other needs drove me up into the world. I planned on going through this upcoming summer with a job to keep me entertained.

But spring tops all three of them. Spring just has so much potential, and the outside changes drastically in such a short time. Plus, the fact that it rains just about everyday in spring means that my new found friends (who aren't scared of the sun, but have yet to explain to me why they avoid it) can go to school with me without any worry from those nasty UV rays. There's spring vacation, the rain, the animals, and the rain some more. One day the temperature could be eighty degrees and I'm cursing mother nature, but the next it could dip back down into the thirties, with a wind chill factor and a new storm crashing over the horizon.

Got to love springtime.

I took in a deep inhale as a rumble tore across the sky. "Nothing like an early morning thunderstorm to wake up to, right Al?"

Alexander didn't like his new nickname, which I had dubbed just a couple of days after my sixteenth birthday. He also didn't seem partial to spring like I did. Alexander was a winter/fall kind of person, though for the life of me I couldn't know why. Maybe it was because his hair got extra frizzy in the humidity. That would be enough to annoy me if I had curly hair. Or maybe he had allergies I didn't know about. Or maybe he just didn't like the seasons just because.

This morning he looked extra grumpy. "It shouldn't even be raining, let alone storming. Do you realize how impossible this all is? A thunderstorm, in April?" He sounded mortified by the very thought of it.

"April showers bring May flowers," I sang. "And what lovely flowers they will be." We were waiting for either the Cullens or the bus to show up. It had been made into a game in the past couple of months to see who would arrive first to pick me up. So far, Alice had the almost clean sweep of thirty five days total. The bus had one day only because that was the first day I had invented the game.

I didn't, however, count days when the sun was out since Alice was reluctant to pick me up during those mornings. I had yet to see what would happen if they were left out to bake too long in the sun. Maybe, with their complexion, they burned really badly and couldn't stand to be seen in public with bright red skin.

On those days, whatever the Cullen's reasons for skipping school, I skipped too depending on my mood and either hung out around my house or their's. To admit, when Alexander first suggested that I go over to their house for _fun_ I was appalled. Not at the fact that he would suggest it, but at the very idea that I could just go up to someone's house and invite myself in.

I had finished watching nearly all of the movies that Bella had lent me on my birthday too. Not all of them were great, which put new shine on the phrase 'oldie but a goodie' for me. To my embarrassment Alexander tipped me off that while Bella might have sounded to me like me, she did not sound so perfect to other ears.

Shame, but I still found out a great deal.

Alexander's little brother hadn't shown up yet. Alice didn't have any news on when he would be showing up either. Nobody seemed pretty concerned about it, but whenever I got near enough to Alexander I could, at times, cut the tension of the air around him with a knife. It was hard to put the little tyke out of mind with Alexander like that.

People at school had started me treating me differently as the weeks went by. I wasn't sure how to feel, but I ended up feeling elated somehow. People were watching me and noticing me as I walked through the halls or made my way through the lunch room. Neither were things that I wanted either. My classmates were only interested in me because of who I hung out with not because I was actually good at anything.

On the plus side, a lot less people had stopped called me Ghost Girl or any deviation of that, and had started to use my actual name. I was pretty sure the Cullens had influenced all of them, and for that they had my eternal gratitude.

War around the world was getting increasingly worse by the week as well. At this point, I didn't see any end to it. All negotiations had been spent with terrorists and rival governments alike, and although it was already called World War Three, I knew that all the hype was just the build up. The top gun nations were getting involved in this dispute now, which meant we were throwing our support behind one group or the other. No more neutrality.

The bright side of this was the idea that America hadn't technically lost either prior World Wars even though we were late in the running. I only hoped that this would all end shortly after we entered.

I was fighting my own little personal war with myself now that I thought about fighting. She hadn't been apparent in the past couple of days, but I blamed that on the fact that I was worried over this English project. My shadow. The ghost me. Or just the Devil itself. She wasn't that bad, but she seemed to be stuck for eternity in PMS mode. She broke things around the house, shattered mirrors and glass, and screamed at me whatever chance she got.

Whatever her reason for existence, whether it be that I was actually happy for once or just to torment me until I really did snap, she wasn't going to succeed. I was plum as peach, and there was nothing or no one that could make me miserable again.

Besides, I had friends. And I wasn't wearing braces anymore either. Both are excellent boosts in morale right there.

"Thinking deeply are we?"

I glanced up to Alexander quickly, then studied the lid to my coffee cup intently. Steam rose from the tiny little pinhole on the top. It was light, nearly transparent, and curled away from me as if recoiling from my very image. I inhaled it deeply before it could get away and enjoyed the warmth that instantly coated my lungs. "Yes, actually. A lot has happened."

I'm not sure if anyone aside from Edward could figure out what went on in my friend's mind. I certainly couldn't tell then and there as he turned his head up toward the sky. I took the following silence as a space to fill with the sound of my voice and the roll of the thunder as backing sound. "Alice is running a bit late. If she doesn't hurry, I'm getting on the bus."

"She's coming."

As typical with any conversation with Alexander, I wasn't sure if he was just trying to reassure someone or if he could actually tell if Alice was coming using his super hearing abilities. "You think? You know, maybe I'll be done my coffee by the time she gets here then. That's never happened before." Faced with that prospect, I took a sip. Caramel flavored this morning then.

I could also never tell what type of coffee Alexander had made me (new habit of his that I wasn't, under any circumstances, complaining about) until I tasted it. The taste never quite matched up to par with my nose. As I started to take my second sip of the morning, wondering maybe there was something wrong over in the Cullen household, I heard the bright yellow car rev its engines and pull onto the road down a ways to our left.

"Durn," I sighed, blowing the steam away with my breath. "Hey, did you get that English project done yet? We're supposed to have our books read and the reports handed in by tomorrow."

"Been done since last Thursday."

I gnawed on my lip as Alice stopped at the top of my driveway, just a foot or two away from where Alexander and I were standing. I started to trudge forward. "Yeah, I need to get on that tonight then. Still have to form my thesis statement I think." I hadn't been looking forward to the project when out teacher had explained it to us at the beginning of the school year, and now I especially hated doing the project.

And forming carpal tunnel in both of my wrists.

The reading part of the whole thing had been fun when we were reading solo and not as a group. Les Miserables was an outstanding piece of literature despite what my other classmates thought. Then again, Alexander was telling me stories from around that time so that made it all the more exciting for me. He never told me personal stories however, just plain old stories.

I ran around onto the road and opened my own door. A light rain started to fall from above, and I wanted to get under cover before I was tempted to stay out till I was drenched.

Behind Alice I could see the lights of the bus as it trudged itself up the massive hill, way out of the way, my sole stop. I closed the door and smiled a good morning to Alice. She seemed like her perky self as she backed up into my driveway and turned back onto the road to her house again. "Cutting it a bit close this morning are we?" I jibed.

Alice scoffed. "I'm never late. Whenever I arrive is the correct time. Although, Eve, I wouldn't have to do this if you didn't play this irritating game every morning." Alice pulled back into her driveway.

Truth be told, she only picked us up so I wouldn't get on the bus to go to school. If we drove to school now, we would be about a half an hour early, and who wanted to spend extra, unneeded time at school?

"And you're not helping the situation," she said specifically to Alexander.

"I try," he replied.

The bus went on down the road behind us, almost all of the seats empty. "Have I explained to you the waste of fuel this is to me by the way? I should just pick you up the old fashioned way if you didn't get so sick every time I tried." Oh God. The old fashioned way wasn't worth the short trip at all.

"It's a solar hybrid car that's been remodeled. You do realize it's not sunny enough here to have a solar powered car be useful, right?" I joked. It was a common jibe I laid on them, or at least I thought so, but most people had solar hybrid cars around here despite that little fact.

The hybrid cars of today took a little bit of electricity and a lot of source for another element to make them. I didn't profess to know anything about the mechanics of the cars, but most of the Cullens were whizzes with cars. Most of the time I saw Rosalie working in the garage.

"This place isn't so wet. We used to live in a place that saw sun about ten times a year, at most."

I laughed. "Where did you live, the rain forest?"

"Nope. Just outside a town in Washington state called Forks." I was still laughing a little, and although Alexander was tense beside me again and Alice was being serious, she was still smiling just a little.

I rarely heard anything about any of the Cullens' past life. This was news to me, that they had once lived in an oddly named town, but it wasn't earth shattering thankfully. Alexander also had little to say about their lives, and his to boot. I was fine and peachy to keep it that way too.

"Forks? Okay...wow?"

We got out of the car, almost simultaneously, and I started for the front door of the house with a little pep in my step. I had a great feeling about today. Or the rain was just making me feel better, like rain always did.

Alexander matched pace beside me, and leaned down a bit as if to whisper in my ear. "By the time you might want to look a bit more somber. Your good mood might bring on unwanted attention." Oh. He did actually want to whisper in my ear.

I stopped walking, but Alexander and Alice continued forward down the walk way. Alexander only looked over his shoulder once, his expression worried, before he started forward again. What could he possibly mean?

Mulling it over, but still feeling happy despite Alexander's warning, I skipped down the walkway and was there when Alice opened it. The Cullen's house hadn't changed much in the recent months. In fact, it felt like I was the timid scared girl again, walking into the monsters' house for the very first time way back in September. Only then the house had been decorated roof to cellar in outlandish ribbons and torches and shimmery stuff. Still, you get my point.

Nessie was sitting at the kitchen table, her little legs swinging back and forth under her chair not quite able to touch the floor. And she never would be able to either, the thought struck me. There was an empty plate with syrup on it in front of her, and both Edward and Bella flanked her right and left sides. She was touching their cheeks, and their heads were bowed in silence, eyes open and filled with love. Nessie's face was lit up with mute laughter.

The scene would be creepy to me if I one, hadn't seen it so many times already and two, if they didn't all look so damn happy together. I still didn't know what happened when Nessie touched their faces, perhaps I didn't want to know, but everyone always seemed to have an eye on Nessie whenever she wanted to talk to me.

There was nothing wrong with Edward and Bella's child. She was absolute purity. The splitting image of a baby angel. Cute to boot too.

I turned and ran up the stairs. The Cullens' had a spare bedroom (you're kidding me, they had several) one of which they had designated to Alexander. It was a rather dismal thing, painted a colorless white like the rest of the known house (I hadn't barged into anyone's bedrooms to see what their rooms were colored), bare of furniture or any sort of adornment. Well, aside from the random posters I kept sticking on the wall, and the pictures which I pasted there too.

Hey, no one had stopped me and stonecold-and-silent was voicing any complaints.

I dug around in my messenger bag for a few seconds before finding the stack of photos I had searched all last night for. There weren't doing any good under my mother's bed anyway, so I had decided to use them for my own means.

The wooden door to Alexander's room was closed, but I didn't think twice about knocking. He was behind me anyway. It was covered in posters I had found online, in my room tucked neatly into a drawer or closet, or bought at the school's book fair. There was a pokemon one, a picture of a cat in a watering can, and wolf with black and white angel wings overlooking a moonlit pool.

Inside it was worse. I had nearly covered two walls and was working on my third plus the ceiling. The one had a tribute to different anime shows I had watched, my favorite authors' book cover art, and all thirteen actors from Doctor Who. I liked the one with the scarf myself, but probably only because he had a resemblance to a certain guy I knew if only in the hair. Not really.

Second had pictures and just that. Pictures of me, him, Howl, Nessie, all of the Cullens, among other things. There was more posters and the like than pictures, but I had about five new ones to pin up on his wall. Baby pictures, but they counted.

There were a couple blank spaces on wall number two, so I pinned them up there and took a step back to see my work. They melted away in the background of faces, but they belonged. It would really suck if this house burned down, was perhaps my only thought of this room.

"That one is from your father's Christmas Party last year," Alexander said off to my left.

He was talking about the one where I was sitting on the grand staircase, a green and red satin dress on, my shoulders bare by the way the dress was cut. I hated that dress the most out of all the dresses he had made me wear over the years. My father held parties every year almost, but I had wiggled out of the one this year, thank God, by way of the Cullens. I'm not sure if I could have stood another year of being set up as a blind date or a potential business deal. "I only smiled because you pretended to choke on Lizzy's meat pie."

"It did smell horrible," he mused softly.

"Tasted worse." I smiled and walked out of the room. Alexander was beside me in a second. "Why do you want me to look depressed?" I finally asked as we were nearing the stairs. He should have known I was going to ask sooner or later.

It did take him half a minute to respond however, and we were already down the stairs before he spoke up. "Someone died yesterday. It would look bad if you were happy about it."

"Ah, oh. Some idiot might think I had something to do about it?"

"It was an accident," he said in a rush. It was hard to understand any of them when they spoke that quickly.

"Sure it was." I felt my chest tighten at the thought of who it might have been. I wasn't getting along with too many people in my school of late. Obviously not everyone liked me for hanging out with the Cullens. "What happened, and to whom?"

"Tillman. Bike accident. No helmet."

"Ah. Oh." A true accident then. Poor kid, and in my grade too which meant he couldn't have been older than sixteen. I sure hoped that he didn't follow me around now, as horrible as that sounded. He was one of the people that tormented me every waking moment of my life in school, whenever he got the chance. He was a jerk, but he was dead now. You had to respect that, but that didn't mean I had to feel bad for the guy, right? Just his family. Death always complicated things.

"I see your point," I said after a minute. "How did you find out?"

"Carlisle."

I nodded. A doctor would know such things I suppose. Not many kids died from the school your kids go to. The news wasn't typically sobering, but the thought of facing the friends who did know him, facing the accusations that the ghost girl might have had something to do with it..."Shit. And I spat at him the other day too."

"Friday. No one would remember that."

"I believe they would. And you were there looking like you wanted to kill him. He stole my book, remember, right after lunch and wouldn't give it back at the end of the day. Wrote in it and all. The Librarian just about had a fit and said he had to replace it, gave him two detentions, and warned me to watch my books better."

"Death threats were issued if I recall," Alexander said through tight lips. He had been the one to issue the second death threat, right after Tillman and friends had said they were going to set fire to my house and kill my dog.

Kids these days.

I readjusted the strap to my messenger bag. "We should go. I think I should get to school early today, just to let some people cool off maybe?" I gave a glance to Alice who was waiting by the front door, the keys already in hand.

The trio, Jake included this time, were still hanging around with Nessie. Edward looked up at me when I looked them over expectantly. "I'll drive us to school after you guys leave." He gave a quick, almost invisible look to Alice. "Things should be fine Eve. Relax."

"Sure," I grumbled and made my way through the kitchen. Esme was there with a brown paper bag and something wrapped up in a napkin. I instantly perked and finagled my coffee mug so I could get the two items in one hand.

She stopped me and just put the wrapped item in my hand, then gave the bag to Alexander so he could place it in my messenger bag. "Thank you Esme," I said graciously, and kissed her on the cheek. When Mother's Day rolled around next month, she would be getting something from me. I kinda wished that my mother was like that - packing me a lunch and making sure I ate breakfast. The mere thought of it brought tears to my eyes. It always did, every morning without fail.

"Have a good day," Esme called from behind us.

I waved, taking a sip of my coffee so I wouldn't have to say anything back and give away my mood. I'm sure they could all tell I was thankful.

Jasper and Alice were in the car already. I sometimes forgot - rarely, but I was just as frequently reminded - how slow I moved when compared to these beings. But they never were impatient with me. Rosalie taken aside.

Alexander tried holding the door open for me like a gentleman, and I tried getting in on the other side. He was there in an instant, holding the door open for me there. The daily game ensued in which I lost due to rain. I begrudgingly got in behind Alice, who was smiling and laughing next to Jasper.

My oddities seemed to bring such light into their lives. It was strange.

"You know," I said as Alice started the car. "If you let me and Al ride the bus, then you wouldn't all have to take three cars." Edward, Jake, and Bella all rode in one car. Rosalie and Emmett in the other. The driving arrangements were a bit odd, and I had the feeling that everyone was fighting because of me. Call me vain, but you try staring Rosalie down and not think that something is wrong with your existence.

"We would be crammed into two cars you mean?" Alice replied without looking around. She pulled out into the road in one fluid movement and we were doing sixty within the next second. I gripped at the door handle and tried not to let my anxiety flow into my voice while the topic was changed.

Away to dread and despair we go - there's nothing like a day spent at high school.

I made it through lunch and through one whole period after lunch before someone mentioned something to me. It was made in passing in the hall, and I didn't get a chance to see who it was exactly, but it sounded oddly like Rat. Okay, not oddly. It just sounded like Rat.

There was no super-human in the hall with me to place who it was exactly. The words weren't typically menacing in anyway, like saying that my dog was going to be run over or shot, or that I was going to die. Just that I was going to pay.

They actually inspired hope in me. If that was worst thing they could say to me, then I was fine. Technically I hadn't done anything except piss the kid off. I wasn't involved in his death whatsoever, and I had been free of his 'ghost' all day. Did see any sort of Tillman projection at all.

Alexander was with me every night, little did they know, so they wouldn't get anything done that way either.

Still, it was enough to get me to stop in the hall and look around, causing the people behind me to moan for a bit about me before I started up again. Seriously, whatever it was, they would get over it. I hadn't done anything, and anyone in their right minds would figure out that I didn't have any power and they only picked on me because it was fun. If I had any powers someone _in their right minds_ would think that I would have used them already.

Too bad for me these people were thinking clearly. I'm not even sure if they had right minds in the first place.


	11. No One Lurks With Me Around

**I didn't plan this ark. Or more like I barely planned it. And be ready to be confused. The first part is just a bit of plot I threw in.**

**And another fave! YES. You have made my day.**

**The song for this chapter is 'No One Sleeps While I'm Awake' by the Sounds. I'm very witty with the titles of these things. -sarcasm-**

--

**Chapter Eleven**

No One Lurks While I'm Around

'In a series of events that no being could foreseen taking place, project Ninevah has failed in a relative early stage of testing. Test trial subject 'Lucy' has destroyed itself through means most mysterious, unsanitary, and questionable. Almost human in its nature, if I may. Two others, 'Lloyd' and 'Lucille', as they call themselves for 'names', fled the facility directly in response to the failure of E1 presumably with the help of one of the human workers; a certain Mr. Petro has been executed to answer for this betrayal, but the F1 and A2 subjects remain lost in the mountains. To assist in their retrieval, Thymes has been dispatched since yester morn. We anticipate his presence to grace our halls within the hour with news.

'The only remaining project, 'Lance' the other subjects called it, has withdrawn into a pathetic slump, or a depression. It has since two days ago developed the Rot, too early in its growth to be natural. Outside stimuli, perhaps the abandonment of its sibling subjects through physical leave and death, must have triggered this internal meltdown. It is all most intriguing, to be honest with myself and others. To think that these beings can feel loss and grief as if they were a part of nature. To be so filled with this sorrow that they tear themselves apart, quite literally, in it. Most interesting indeed.

'To compensate for all of these losses, a man who owes the coven a deep debt has been sent for. He will take the second embryo that is now growing, E2. As little of a favor this may appear to him, Robert Marsh will be granting the coven much power if he succeeds in his assignment. If he fails, however, if we all fail, Aro will be most displeased and his hospitality can only stretch so far and so thin.'

2016

Director of Biological Sciences

My father is the head of nano technology. He's helping to make sure all those dead pan celebrities who froze themselves in nitrogen get all fixed and healed up. Shaped up into proper working order and all that. Personally I don't see the allure of being frozen after death at all because most people who are frozen now, not all but most, never contributed a whole lot to this society in the first place and they want to come back to live longer?

It's just not fair this world I grow up in. How else would a pedo end up as one of the top trillionaires on TV? I'm just glad Dad's money pays to keep the press, _his_ press, out of me and mom's life. Oh, that and the United States' privacy act that makes it punishable by law to stalk someone for a life destroying photo.

Edward changed the channel with a simple touch of a button. Emmet's protest was a loud one. "Hey! I was watching that. I think we need to know when the zombies start rising out of their frozen capsules, don't you?"

"There will be no zombies rising out of anywhere Em. They've been after that technology for a hundred years now. They're closer to killing whole countries with a single weapon than bringing back the long since dead," Edward replied, seemingly dead set on the Food Network.

Have I mentioned that he's an extraordinary cook? Why not? I mean, he does excel exceptionally in everything he does. Alexander burns all the food we make in FAQS.

Inspired, I spoke up. "Nothing is more lethal than the cookies Alexander _tried_ to bake today. One whiff of those sent the class reeling. Josh Hopkins had to go to the nurse he was so dizzy," I said, throwing my voice across the room to where Alexander and Jasper were at it in another one of their chess games.

Alexander looked up, then spoke with his focus back on the game board. "I thought, logically, if you put the heat up in the slightest and change some of the components around in the bowl, then the cookies would be done faster than the other groups. Besides, Josh is asthmatic and had just come from gym class without his inhaler," he said, casually defending himself as he tipped over Jasper's knight.

It was a Friday. A long lasting Friday. A gloomy weather type of Friday. The best kind of Friday ever, and it was just my kind of Friday. The days, weeks, months seemed to flash by like that, everything falling into a certain routine that I enjoyed.

Wake up. Get outfit approved by Alice. Play the 'bus game' with Alice. Lose said bus game. Say good morning to everyone in the Cullen household. Get breakfast from Esme. Try to out-eat Jake. Get to school and go through the whole school routine while ignoring everyone around me. Eat lunch with the Cullens watching, and after a couple more classes go home to do whatever I saw fit.

I almost feel like apologizing to someone when I have to say that life for me was good. Of course, only on the gloomy, sun isn't shining and never will again days. The sun liked to shine at least once or twice a week, so the Cullens were absent from school often. Alexander though, he would always be around to make the day more manageable.

I'm rambling and recapping.

Those of us who needed to seemingly eat had already eaten about an hour ago. Esme and Edward were a killer duo in the kitchen together, I had to admit. They put my meals that had been providing myself with sustenance for years to shame without contest. As full as I was I couldn't help but start to feel a slight empty rumble in my stomach as we continued to watch the chef make savory meals without bars, frying up sizzling platters of food whose flavors and smells you could only dream of, or whisking up a delightful desert in record time without any flaws.

Then again, it could just have been TV magic at work, but I was held captivated until I yawned loudly and involuntarily.

"Ready for bed, sleepy head?" Emmett chided from his seat on the sofa.

"Mmmm," I mumbled, sinking lower in the sofa. The chef was just serving his slamming three course meal, plus his drink, to the customers and I wanted to hear their snobby reviews on his meal before I went to bed. It was just past nine if I wasn't mistaken.

Alexander was at my side in the next second, gently tapping me on the shoulder. I straightened myself, looking about me in confusion. The show had been turned off, the large TV screen black and devoid of motion. Bella was standing near to my left, smiling and leaning into Edward. Multiple eyes watched me from all over the room, and I turned my eyes downcast.

At least I hadn't been drooling in my little doze.

I stood by myself and thanked everyone for letting me come over, the words a bit jumbled and mushed despite myself. Alexander followed suit wordlessly, with a bow instead. I don't quite remember walking to my house, but I don't think Alexander carried me there either. I would have remembered that.

All I recalled was asking who had won the chess game, him or Jasper.

He answered in a hiss and I wasn't sure if he was trying to be light or was actually very angry with the outcome. "It was a standstill. I couldn't capture his king in time."

"Pity." I hit the bed like a sack, wrapping the blankets around me for warmth and protection. With that I slipped into a much needed dreamless void.

I don't think Alexander ever meant for me to catch him in the act of vigilante justice, but nonetheless I did that night. To be exact, my security system did at around two in the morning. Mom must have activated it before heading off to work for her graveyard shift at the hospital and Systems appeared holographically at the side of my bed, illuminating my brilliantly flashing room with a steady radiance. "Ma'am, there is a presence outside that has tripped the sensors. Someone had already left your house, shortly before the sensors were tripped. Should the police be notified? If you do not respond within set time limit the message will automatically be forwarded to –"

"No already, just no. No police," I shouted, throwing my blankets and covers off my bed in a sleepy rage. I was prepared for this kind of alarm on Halloween night, in the least, when the local gang of kids came to throw produce at my house, but not late Friday night or early Saturday morning.

I had probably been having a really decent dream too, judging on how irritated I was, but I couldn't recall the details exactly.

Grumbling I put on my sneakers which were tossed off by my bed and marched down the stairs. A worried holograph, or as worried as a holograph can get, greeted me in the middle of the kitchen. "Ma'am, I am not certain that you should be about. The safe room has been prepared for your use. Should reconsider that call to the police?" I walked through it, blurring the image for a split second.

"I said no." I paused, my fingers resting on the door knob, as I turned over something the System had said to me upstairs. It had just processed in my mind her words and their meaning. "System? You said someone left just before the alarms went off. Was that my mother?"

"My sensors have been tampered with so my result may be corrupted," she replied cheerily. "I can only disclose that someone left the house fifty-six seconds before the alarms were tripped. Before that another person left forty-seven minutes at one-thirty five in the a.m."

"Alexander," I hissed, throwing the door open with renewed vigor. I immediately regretted it. It was, despite the fact that it was April, very cold outside. And here I was sporting my sleeping wear - a spaghetti strap white tank and cotton plaid shorts. Goosebumps and chills ran through my body as I closed the door and hurried down my walkway.

"Alexander, you set off my God damned alarm sytem," I shouted to the moon, just plain angry. Whatever he was doing he was going to have a nice talk to about it. After a couple of seconds of night silence with no vocal reply and no sign of Alexander I was feeling pretty stupid about myself.

Mostly I was just cold, but the stupid emotion was there too, an underlying factor to my emotions.

I turned, half expecting and hoping to see someone standing right in front of me, but I was all alone in the early morning. . .standing in my walkway. . .shivering my half naked butt off. "Fine," I said in a growl, hugging myself in order to fight off some of the chill. "I'm going back inside then, jerk." Hopefull back to pleasant dreams and warm blankets.

As I started heading back, a bit slower than when I had come out, something crashed through the side garden behind me. Since it might have been Alexander just being clumsy I didn't panic. I looked over my shoulder, mouth open to call out to him to get back in the house.

Instead a form in the shape of a person tackled me down to the ground, knocking the breath out of my lungs and causing my head to crack against the pavement and my arms to get pinned underneath me. A shot of pain immediately followed up from my wrist, to my elbow, shoulder, and up through my neck.

The stone gravel was pressed into my belly while whoever it was tried to backpedal over me, dragging me along the ground in forced silent agony, and I could feel my skin being torn open and scraped but unable to do anything about it.

Whoever the heck they were, they weren't Alexander. That, and they were too preoccupied with whatever was chasing them to notice me. And boy was he heavy.

I heard a strangled scream sobbing sound come from the person on top of me, and something that sounded like a thump. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a small tree growing along the path shake violently and issue snapping noises although it didn't fall. At this point the man on top of me turned to run into the house, or just get away, but his heavy combat boots stomped all over me crushing fingers and back thoughtlessly.

Looking up, as if everything was going in slow mo (this never happens in real life, so why was it happening now to me? Sleeplessness maybe?) I saw the man, of a heavier build and on the shorter side, pull a gun out of his jacket and fire off a resounding shot. The noise echoed through the night, and before it ended the man was dead. I didn't even see how it happened, it was so fast.

One minute he was there, terrified and panic stricken in the face of evil itself, and the next he was falling to the ground, his back angled at a near ninety degrees. I tried to pick myself up into a sitting position, but I still felt as if I couldn't breath. Mentally I knew I had to be fine physically, I wasn't that badly hurt, and yet the air wouldn't enter no matter how hard I sucked. It was possibly one of the worst four seconds of my life.

And then the murderer came back, in all his glory, and stood there in the walkway with concern etched on his face. Oh God, concern for _me._

"Are you," he didn't finish. Instead he dropped into a crouching position near me, hands held out palms up. Good thing he stopped too, I thought bitterly to myself, because that would have ended in a very stupid question.

I finally heaved in a breath that burned, yet felt good at the same time. Then I inhaled another, and another until I was breathing as evenly as I could muster. I stayed in the kneeling position I had fought to pull myself up to, quiet for a few minutes while I tried to organize my thoughts.

There was no need to worry about neighbors because the only ones I had were the Cullens. Far off someone could have heard the shot, but guns go off around here all the time due to hunting and all that. Police wouldn't be notified because I had ordered not to, I could only hope. Hope that Systems didn't recognize a gun shot when it registered one, or that it was damaged enough through my and Alexander's tampering that it didn't even register the sound. Or else we would have problems.

We already had problems. Oh my God, I think that was a body hitting the tree back there behind me. Two people are dead. In my lawn. What. . .who. . .why. . .what. . .

"You're bleeding," Alexander finally said to break the pressing silence.

I looked up to make eye contact with him, breath rattling in my chest while cradling my screaming wrist. Even in the darkness his eyes seemed to glow, and they were the most magnificent shade of ruby that I had never seen before. Simply stunning, and yet. . .

When he reached forward I didn't move, I just kept focused on his eyes. His thumb ran along my head, which was suddenly burning to his frigid touch, and wiped away the supposed blood. I didn't see what he did with that thumb - I think I might have blinked in that instant. He was still so worried, so concerned about my health. It made me think of some sort of dog and for an instant I almost smiled at the image of Alexander in a collar, sitting in front of me, nudging me with his nose while he whined about my well being.

Almost. But I didn't. Would you have?

"Sounds like you're having fun," I mumbled, dropping my stare to the ground. I didn't want to chance seeing behind Alexander, to my front step.

"Fun? Eve, how can you consider this fu-"

"Jerk," I whispered over him, but his soft tirade stopped short at it.

He began again, more slow and even more hushed than before. The night felt wrong at that instant. "Why am I the jerk? Did you know they were going to kill you tonight? Alice barely warned me in time."

Oh. Well, considering how they would have never gotten into the house, why not just get them on misdemeanor charges of attempting to break in and enter a home? It was better than killing them. Whoever they were.

My heart stopped. "Chub. . .Chris. . .and. . .and. . ." I couldn't form the last name.

Alexander leaned forward and he pulled me into him, his arms wrapping around me. It was odd, but I could have sworn he was hugging me. Odder yet, he felt warmer than what I thought he would, as if he was gaining back something human within him.

I almost screamed when I heard the whispers of movement just behind me. A scream nearly broke loose as the ghost of a voice started near my ear. I rolled my eyes over to greet my own face, a broken and twisted grin contorting my face so that it looked like it have been sliced ear to ear. Glittering green eyes flickered at me like flames in the blackness. Her mouth, when she talked, seemed to mimick the action of talking, and the words spoke late, cracked and dry to my ears.

"Oh pretty, pretty Eve," she gurgled. "Look what I can do." I shut my eyes as she jerked her head violently to the side, and thanked god there was no sickening crack that followed. Instead, the horrible crackle of words continued, like the breath of an old and weathered book. "Look what I can do now, pretty, pretty Eve. Look what I can do to _him_."

My eyes flew open and I pushed against Alexander, words bubbling forth in my craze that she, the demon me, was going to somehow hurt him. I was wrong - she could only affect those who saw her, and that was only me.

"I'm sorry," Alexander began, holding me at an arm's length away from me. "I wasn't thinking. I won't do that again, promise."

My mouth worked up and down. It was horrifying. I couldn't fathom. . .I couldn't _think_.

At long last, the scream tore itself out of me and climbed high up into the night. The echo persisted long into the morning hours of the day.

--

**That's not what I wrote down in my notebook. 0.0 Um...well...enjoy? Please, feel free to tell me if this is too creepy...I think I freaked myself out a little bit. And you might hate me next chapter, but roll with it please? Love you all!**


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